


Nein Times out of Ten

by Midnigtartist



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Blow Jobs, First Kiss, Fluff and Smut, Frottage, Getting Together, Hand Jobs, Kissing, M/M, Sex, caleb tops, let molly have a complicated relationship with sex and intimacy, lets these boys smooch, lots of fluff, mollys back motherfuckers, they're sweet you guys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2019-11-12 23:56:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 36,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18020948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Midnigtartist/pseuds/Midnigtartist
Summary: - your party is gonna keep you from getting dicked down by the wizard.Or, the five times Molly and Caleb get interrupted, and the one time they don't.





	1. Fjord

**Author's Note:**

> It's a smutty Widomauk fic I don't know what else to tell ya. Horribly cute because I can't not write them cute, sorry. More Molly centric then Caleb but what can I say, I love Molly. Probably gonna get posted in four parts over about a month. No beta, we die like men.

Molly is grateful for the warmer night. Walking around in the chill after scrubbing himself raw with the cold and honestly, filthy, water left in the inn's communal wash basin sounds horribly unpleasant. He's not one for the cold really. So the encroaching heat of an early summer is welcome, even if it's a bit sticky and a dew of sweat is slowly replacing the blood he's just rid himself of. He wonders what the innkeep or, gods forbid some other poor sap will think of pinkish water and lingering smell of copper he's left behind. A small twitch of amusement lingers in the corner of his mouth. He suspects that the washroom has  been left in a far worst state, what with this being a little town, no bigger than Alfield, that makes its money on travelers passing through, mucking up the place. He’ll pay an extra silver or two for his breakfast tomorrow to make up for it, he decides, that should be more than enough. He makes for his room, the hall a dull wash of grays as the last candle flickers meekly in its holder.

It's still a bit strange, to have a roommate, and a proper bed again for that matter,  after months of travel, alone on the road, but it's certainly not unwelcome. Alone is unbearable. To much time spent in his own head and the weight of something new and important on his shoulders. Back with the Nein now things have at least taken the appearance of normalcy. Its nearly enough to sweep the last handful weeks under the rug, pretend it was just a very bad dream. It's not quite that simple, but Molly is very good at forgetting things.

Still, this Caduceus bloke is amenable enough. No half drowning in his sleep and waking Molly with his retching which is a considerable improvement. Molly is more than happy to let Fjord have a room to himself and give him a much needed break from his string if strange bedfellows.

Mollymauk makes it all of three feet from the washroom when the door to his right cracks open with a groan of its old hinges that makes him tense. Caleb peeks his head out.

A smile rises to Molly’s lips as he slows his gait to a stop. “Evening Mister Caleb” he says softly into the night. He’s not quite sure of the time, late definitely, probably more morning then night at this point. They'd come into town late, drank later, For Molly, much later. Time is fuzzy and strange.

Caleb blinks owlishly at him through the darkness. He probably can't even see Molly, probably can't make out more the faint outline of horns. _Adorable_ , Molly thinks fondly.

“Ah- um Mollymauk” Caleb mutters as he steps out into the hallway. He shut the door to bis room behind him with a muffled snap. Three orbs of light fly up into the air, bathing them both in a faint golden glow.

“The one and only. Planning on a midnight stroll?”

“It’s three in the morning actually” Caleb says. His voice is course with recent sleep. Molly’s brow furrows.

Things with Caleb have been- more or less the same. Once the initial shock of his unprecedented return was over most things with the Nein had been much the same as they had been before he well- before he _died_. Beau’s disgusting “nice act” had lasted all of a day before Molly put an end to that nonsense. They’ve all grown in his absence, changed in small ways, and though that's a bit frightening Molly is adaptable and after a few days it was almost like he was never gone at all. Which is how he likes it. Much better to smooth over those unpleasant cracks and keep pushing forward. He and Jester got back to being up to no good, though he can see a heaviness in her that wasn't there before. He still tries to teach Nott some decency, though shes doesn't seem to need it much anymore. Beau and him still bicker, but it's more light hearted then it was before, and the odd, playful tension Molly’s not sure he wants to name lingers between Caleb and himself, tangible as ever.

“Ya’allright?” He asks.

“Oh ja,,” Caleb scrubs a hand over his face. “Ja ja, I just- I heard someone out here and, you know I just wanted to check.”

Molly gives him a soft, pitying smile, and gives his elbow a quick squeeze. “Get some rest Caleb” He makes to leave, but Caleb speaks before he can get very far.

“It's still strange” he says “I keep thinking that one of these time, I will turn around and you will not be there. I thought that, you know, that two weeks would be enough time, but I still startle when you come around a corner.”

Molly says nothing. Caleb continues.

“It's not that your presence is off putting. We are happy you are here with us again. I am happy you are here.” He takes an unsure step in the direction of Molly’s silhouette. “ You were gone for very long time.”

Something cold, and hard to parse out drops into Molly's stomach. He sighs, scrubbing a hand over his brow.

“We’ve talked about this.” and they had, when he’d first gotten back. It's no easier now than it was then to put it in to words. “Things got- complicated. I never meant to have been away for so long. But I'm back now, yeah? That's the important bit. And I'm not going anywhere if I can help it.”

Caleb nods, taking another step his way. It’s not a dreadfully big hallway, it only takes about three steps to span the space between them and in moment Caleb is at a unarguably intimate distance. Briefly, Molly considers that this is the first time they’ve been properly alone since he’s been back. They haven’t taken another night watch together since before he died. But now they’re in the dark in the little hallway in the early hours of the morning and his hands are shaking.

Caleb is striking, maybe even more handsome than he remembers. Certainly he’s more confident, more comfortable in his own skin and that occasionally seems a bolt of something thrilling and dreadfully through Molly’s chest. Safe to say his feeling towards him haven’t changed during his time way. The gently budding _something_ that makes it hard to string together a coherent thought, much less a sentence of any worth. Which is nothing new, he can't bullshit a filterless stream of bullshit when he needs to but when it really matter the words often catch on his tongue and trip him up. Caleb is different though, he’s always been different. When they’d met Molly just wanted to get him to open up. Like Yasha, he made it his mission to try and coax Caleb out of his shell, get him more comfortable with the others and himself. He not quite sure when that changed. But Caleb, clever and troubled and wonderful. Caleb who makes terrible jokes, does something to him. Molly knows he must look like every lovestruck fool who’s ever come to him for a reading staring at Caleb right now, enveloped in the warm night air.

Standing compromisingly close, Caleb nods. “That is the important thing.”

He reaches up and gently brushes the hair from Molly's face.

And then Mollymauk finds himself kissed.

Molly finds himself kisses and his breath stutters in his chest.

He finds himself kissed and feels the weight of Caleb’s lips and the rasp of his stubble against him mouth, and  his last two brain cell bang together frantically. By sheer dumb luck they spark and that spark catches, igniting the parts of his brain that urge him to curl a hand around the back of Caleb’s neck.

The light go out.

He lets Caleb push him back, back, _back_. Back against the washroom door, then through it until his shoulders hit the wall with a dull thud. The door slams shut behind him, distantly Molly hears the the lock click. Caleb presses him firmly to the wall, damp wood under the fingers of his unoccupied hand, the sharp smell of copper in his nose.

He doesn’t think he could have imagined it better. He lets his fall shut, lets a sigh escape through his nose. The warmth on his mouth, the scrap of Caleb’s beard across his chin in way that make him weak in the knees.  It’s a brilliant feeling, he curses the buzzing in his chest and cherishes it all the same. His horns thunk on the wall as Caleb drives further up into him, a hand on his jaw and another tangled into his shirt front.

Molly, pulls back with a breathless gasp. “Caleb.” Caleb chases after his mouth.

“Caleb.” he says again, presses the name against Caleb’s lips. The hand not fisted in Caleb’s hair finds his forearm and Molly puts general pressure there. “Caleb, _Caleb_. Caleb, stop.” he mutters into the corner of his mouth.

Caleb pulls back, dazedly. “ _Was_?”

Its painfully cute. Molly would love nothing more than to draw him back up to his lips. He strokes his thumb across his cheek instead and smiles thinly at him.

“Don’t do something you're going to regret.” he says.

Caleb rolls his eyes. “I have already done many things I regret.” he says, flatly. He moves to kiss Molly again, but Molly doesn’t let him, shifting just out of Caleb’s reach.

“Don’t make me one of them.” he says in a voice light enough not to give him away, but firm enough to get the message across.

Molly’s not a subtle person, never has been, he’s found it doesn't suit him. However, for a while now, since he'd recognized his feelings for Caleb, and the fact that Caleb was in no good place for him to act on those feelings, he’s been more subdued in expressing them. He resolved himself to care for Caleb in the calm, quite way that Caleb needed, even if it's not the garish way Molly wanted. And if someday down the road Caleb found himself in a better place, if he found himself wanting to pursue something with Molly, well, Molly would be more than happy to accommodate. In the same breath, if that never happened, if Caleb was never ready for a relationship, or he sought one out with someone else, Molly would still care for him, quietly and without expectations. He never expected anything in return for caring for Caleb, just like he expects nothing from the rest of the Nein for caring about them. He just does it because he wants to, and as long as Caleb is happy, Molly will take whatever he’s willing to give him, but he won’t let himself be something Caleb regrets. If he’s allowed one shred of selfishness, let it be that, that Caleb never looks back on him as a mistake.

“I don’t want you to do something you’ll regret because of spur of the moment decision, dear. That’s messy business.”

Caleb blinks. “That is not what I meant.” his hands fumble their way up to loosely cup Molly's face between them. “This isn’t just a whim, I have wanted to do that for a while now, actually.”

Molly sags back against that wall. And if he presses up into the linger touch of Caleb’s fingers too, it's really no ones business but his own. “Well, thank you for making me privy to that information.” He means it to be teasing, but he just sounds tired.

Caleb sighs. “I am not making myself clear.” he says. “I have thought about- _this_ ” his one hand falls down onto Molly’s shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze. “For a while now. I ahh- do not know what I was waiting for. A -a sign of some sort - perhaps. I am not a smart man, but I am not blind, you know, I --um- I  could see your- your interest, in- me.” Molly wonders if he can feel the heat burning in his cheeks where his fingertips linger along his tattoos. “I just- I don’t know, I guess I assumed- that there would - that there would be _time_ to figure things out. That I would have time to get myself _right_. And when-” Caleb pause for a breath “And then you were back all of a sudden I and -- well I suppose I realized that there is no guarantee that there will be time, and I realized that I would much rather take the opportunities now, while they are here, then wait gods know how long for some- some big moment that might never come.”

Molly lets out a shaky breath, fingers flex where they still hold Caleb by the bicep. “I’ve never known you to be so bold, Mister Caleb.” he says.

Caleb chuckles, and shrugs, letting his gaze fall to the wayside. “I-- ah- I suppose I have changed, a bit, since you have been away.  I would like to think for the better but,,,” he looks up at Molly, squeezes his shoulder again. “I cannot promise you that years from now I won’t regret this. That is- that is too far away, and I cannot be sure of what sort of person I will be then. But I can say that I will not regret this in the morning. I would not be here if I thought I would.”

It’s not a perfect answer, but Molly’s been around enough to know that the only perfect answers in life are fabricated ones.

“A calculated risk then?” Molly asks.

The hand on his shoulder squeezes tight. “Ja, something like that.”

He smiles. “I think I can live with that.” and he lets Caleb draw him in once more.

From there things become easy. Emotions are funny, complicated little things that require care and attention, but now that they’re all wrapped up, at least for the time being Molly is more than happy to just kiss.

Kissing is wonderful and easy, in his limited experience. Talking is hard, important but difficult. So he’s glad that they can move onto the kissing bit, and allows Caleb to have him, which ever way he well pleases. He seems to please pressing the length of his long, wiry frame to the line of Molly’s body. Knees to thighs to hips to chest to chest to lips lock in swelling movements, every point of contact is a pleasant burning point against Molly’s skin. His tail curls up slowly like a coiling snake as Caleb presses his palms into his hips, holding him steady by the waist. He lets his hand drift up to tangle in his ginger mop, gently guiding his head to a different angle and - _oh yes_ \- he thinks- that’s _much_ better.

The urgency from before is still there, not as demanding as it was, but bubbling just under the surface as they work in tandem to find their rhythm. There’s a thrill to kissing someone like this, to kissing Caleb like this, for the first time, an nervousness that comes from not knowing what to expect next. Molly certainly doesn’t expect the hesitant parting of Caleb’s lips against his own. Doesn’t expect the hot puff of air against his mouth.

“ _Caleb_ ” he wants to say, but talking is so difficult. “ _Caleb_ ” but the name catches, unsure in the back of his throat and cracks through his lips as a soundless breath of air, hitching in his chest. Caleb swallows down the way his tongue catches on the first syllable easily. His hand squeeze Molly’s sharp hip bone. Molly pushes his tongue into Caleb’s mouth. It’s easier than trying to say all the things running through his head. Like how wonderful this is, how wonderful Caleb is. He wants to talk about the startling lightness in his chest, because it’s such a big feeling, such a brilliantly massive feeling that makes a smile shake in the corners of his lips even now. He wishes he was good at words like Caleb is so he could tell him how long he’s been wanting to do this as well. How long Molly has been wanting to run his fingers through Caleb’s hair just so, or how, while Caleb freshly shaven is a look, he finds himself quite partial to the pleasant sting of Caleb short stubble rasping against his chin. It’s much simpler to just push his tongue into Caleb’s mouth and listen with a thrill of smug satisfaction to the strangled noise of surprise Caleb makes. It’s always good fun to see how a partner reacts to the forked tongue, strange and foreign to most. Molly is used to the little jump of surprise as he runs it along the side of Caleb’s tongue. He used to the way Caleb’s tongue licks, instinctively, between the prongs. Humans are always so curious about the things that get put in their mouths.

Caleb pushes back against his roaming tongue. Molly let him chase after it with a little huff.

 _This is nice_ , he thinks, scratching talons against the back of  Caleb neck. The little stuttering roll Caleb’s hips give is _very_ nice. He breaks the kiss so he can trail his lips along Caleb’s jaw, enjoying the prickle of his beard against them while he gathers his breath.

Caleb wasn’t being dramatic when he said there would be no opportunity wasted because he ducks his head down out of reach of Molly’s wander lips, ducking down under his jaw to start leaving a string of kisses along his throat. Molly turns his face into the mess of ginger curls, sighing against Caleb’s temple. He doesn’t want to talk right now, not when Caleb’s beard is scraping against his skin so fabulously and he can feel a touch of tongue at his pulse point. His tail unfurls, skittering across the old wood walls with a _swish_ as it arcs around to hook shyly around Caleb’s ankle. He wants to tell Caleb how superb he is. He doesn’t want to muddy the lovely sound of their unsteady breath. It's a very complicated feeling.

The door suddenly rattles in it frame, someone on the other side tries shaking the handle, only to find it locked. Caleb goes rigid against Molly, who rolls his eyes.

“They’ll leave.” he says quietly into Caleb’s ear. He presses a kiss under his jaw reassuringly. Caleb shivers and nods.

“Ja, ja of course.” he says, low and a little bit breathless. It's a very nice sound that Molly definitely wouldn’t mind hearing again. Chest rumbling with the beginnings of a purr, Molly leans back down, taking his turn to nose along the length of Caleb’s throat.

_Bang Bang Bang_

Three sharp knocks cause the door to quiver in its frame.

“Occupied!” Molly calls outs, more than a little exasperated now. Curling Caleb closer, he lays a few quick kisses to the other man’s neck in rapid succession.

“Hurry it up in there Molly.” Fjord calls back, because of _course_ it would have to be Fjord.

With a groan, Molly throws his head back against the wall with a thunk of keratin on wood. “Oh for fucks sake-” he glances back to Caleb, who looks considerably less confident now, and more like he’s trying very hard to sink into the floorboards. Molly sighs, pushing some lose hair behind Caleb’s ear, damn hands shaking while he does it. “We’ll um- we’ll finishes this later?” he says, voice pitching up into a question at the end.

Caleb seems to swallow down his shock, and nods. “Uemm ja- ja later okay- later is- later.”

“Later.” Molly agrees. He doesn’t want to let Caleb go quite yet, so he leans over to press a kiss to his forehead. He lets his hands drop.

Caleb does the same, shuffling back a few steps. “I suppose we should-” he nods over at the door.  
“Probably best” Molly says. “Unless you were looking to sleep in here tonight.”

Caleb huffs out something akin to a laugh and Molly grins. There’s an awkward moment where Caleb fumbles with the lock in the dark before the door is pushes open and a sliver of candlelight slips into the room. Molly, still leaned up against the wall, watches him go, slipping around a confused Fjord with a hurriedly muttered   _“Gute Natch”_ before escaping into his room. _He’s adorable_ Molly thinks to himself. Shame they’d been interrupted, by _somebody_.

He comes strolling out after him, giving Fjord a disinterest up and down, arms folded tight over his chest.

“It had better be a bloody emergency.” he tell the half orc.

Fjord picks his jaw up off the ground. “Were-? What in hell were the y’all doing in there?”

“What do you _think_?” he snaps back, brushing passed Fjord towards his own room. “Unbelievable.”


	2. Caduceus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I tried to wait to post this, I really did, but I have failed miserably. Lucky for you all that means more content.

In an alley outside a little shop called Brambles and Bindings, Mollymauk listens for the tinkle of the bell above the door before peeking around the corner. Sure enough, Caleb emerges a moment later with a package tucked under his arm. Molly’s hand darts out, fingers curling around the sleeve of Caleb’s ratty old coat.   
“It’s me.” Molly says, low and calm as he tugs Caleb out of the main thoroughfare and into the dingy alley with him. 

He’s been looking for an opportunity all morning to get Caleb alone, but the day’s been full of shopping, and trading and stocking up on supplies because they’re bound for the road again in a day or so. Molly had suggested and everyone had agreed that they’d want to be well supplied before heading back to Zadash seeing as it's good weeks travel back the a city. He wants do this now, before he loses his nerve and before they get back out on the road where the already sparse privacy that comes with traveling with a group this size becomes even more scarce. 

Surprised but not necessarily startled, Caleb blinks up at him. “Oh- Hallo.”

Molly grins back at him. “Hallo yourself.” he says, a poor imitation of Caleb’s mother tongue rolling off his lips. A smile cracks across Caleb’s face, a small one, but a smile nonetheless, so Molly counts it. 

A beat passes, the two of them stand there staring with what Molly is sure are the most idiotic of grins. Its stupid. It's wonderful. He grins a bit wider. 

“Why are we in an alley?” Caleb asks after a moment. 

“Right!” Molly slaps his hands together and Caleb jumps. “Right yes, right. I have something, well- some _ things _ , I wanted to give to you.” he says, reaching into his pack. 

“And you had to pull me into an alley to do this?”

“ _ Yes- _ ” Molly says, struggling with the clasp because his fingers are shaking. Caleb’s even, blue gaze still has him off kilter. “-no. It’s not- it’s just-”  more private? That’s a stupid thing to say. He flips his pack open. “Just- here. I picked up some things, for you, that I thought maybe you could use. Nothing fancy, promise! Just some stuff you might need for- for the ,,, road.” he petters off lamely, He digs out around for the brown wrapped packages “I- here.” he passes them to Caleb one by one. “You’re always running out so I figured- I didn’t know if you’d be able to find any here. I picked em before we left, I was going to hold onto them for you but- I- yeah-.”

Molly likes buying things. He like buying things for other people. He likes buying things for  _ Caleb _ , because so often Caleb needs things, and Caleb deserves to have things. Nice things, things that make him happy, like books, but Molly doesn’t know anything about books. But Caleb needs paper for his magic. Magic that keeps the group safe and sheltered and protected. Molly can’t do things like that, but he can at least make sure the person who _can_ has all the supplies he needs. Molly doesn’t need things, but Caleb does, and so Molly buys paper and incense and ink, because he likes to spend money on other people. He especially wants to spend money on Caleb. He’s wanted to spend money on Caleb for a while.

He watches as Caleb pulls back the  wrappings. “How much did you spend on these?”

Molly waves the question away. “Not important. Anyways, gold is meant to be spent and I’m certainly not doing anything with it.”

“You could have bought healing potions.” Caleb points out, looking up from his rifling.

“We’ve got two perfectly capable healers with us. We don’t have bottomless bag of paper and ink.” 

Caleb holds his gaze a moment longer and Molly can see the exact moment his resolve flickers out. He signs softly. “Ja, alright,, Thank you, for these.” and he slips them into his pack.

“Always a pleasure.” he says before his smile falters a bit. “Are those any good, then?”

“Hmm?” Caleb glaces back over at him. “Oh- nein. No, the paper is shit. I can’t use it, not for spells anyway.”

“Fuck.” 

_ Fuck-  _ he’s spent good gold on that paper. He was so sure he bought the right stuff. He’d asked explicitly for the expensive shit. He’d spent  _ two hundred _ gold on that fucking paper. Molly scraps his fingers along his scalp and sucks a breath in through his nose.

“-I am kidding,,” Caleb says and Molly’s head snaps up to look at him. Caleb quickly drops his gaze to his boots and begins pulling at his beard. “I- that was joke. I, emmm, the paper is just fine I,,,,,,”

A smile shakes in the corner of Molly's mouth, though his heart is still racing. “Right-” he points an accusing finger at Caleb. “Fuck you, then.”  and he makes like he’s going to leave. 

“Wait-” Fingers catch on the back of his coat before he makes it more than a few steps. Molly allows himself to be pulled back from the mouth of the alley and back amongst the crates and Caleb, who’s looking rather sheepish, ears delightfully pink at the tips. “I- that was rude of me, and ahh- not really that funny.”

Molly reaches over to pat him on the shoulder. “Delivery could definitely use some work, but an A for effort.”

Caleb chuckles under his breath, and gods above, it such a wonderful sound. Molly’s chest feels warm and full from it. Gods, he fancies Caleb quite a bit. 

“I will remember that next time.” Caleb says. “Regardless, thank you, Mollymauk. It was ummm, it’s very thoughtful.”

“It was nothing really. Just trying to help the group.” Molly blusters.

Caleb arches a brow at him. “Oh? Than you have also bought golds worth of supplies for Beauregard? Or Jester?”

A little heat rises in Molly’s cheeks that he firmly ignores. “You don’t know what’s on my shopping list.” That earns a little grunt of laughter from Caleb and Molly finds his gaze softening. 

He likes Caleb like this. He like Caleb all the time, but he especially likes Caleb like this. With his face open and slightly pink at the ears and less hard lines weighing down his features. There’s the touch of a smirk in the corner of his lip and the curve of his brow is more than a little temping on his already handsome face. Infatuation seeps, warm and bubbling out of Molly’s chest, all the way down to the tips of his fingers.

“Can I- can I kiss you,,?” he asks.  _ What the fuck. _ The almost flirtatious line disappears from Caleb’s brow as they draw together in to a look of confusion. Molly raises shaking hands up in surrender. “If not that’s alright, totally alright”

“Nien, I don’t have a problem with that, it’s- I am confused- why are you asking for permission?” he seems almost worried.

“I didn’t want to presume anything!” Molly answers in a rush. “I didn’t know- if it was a one time thing, or if- what you’re feelings were regarding that, the kissing I mean-. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“Mollymauk-” Caleb says. “If I did not want to kiss you, I would not have done so last night.”

“Alright yes, but-”

“And I am more than capable of telling you if I am feeling uncomfortable.” Caleb reaches over to grip Molly’s forearm. “Believe me, I would not be here if I did not want this.”

Molly open his mouth, shuts it again, then nods. “Right, yes- yup okay. So-”  moving slowly, so Caleb can pull back if he wants, because this is still so baffling, that he can just  _ kiss  _ Caleb now, Molly cups his jaw and leans down to kiss his soundly on the mouth. 

It’s not quite a chaste kiss, but it’s nowhere near as urgent as the ones they’d shared last night. Molly brings his other hand up and cradles Caleb’s face between them as he kisses him. It’s warm and bright and easy, like the early summer breeze and Molly is so content to simply kiss Caleb in this dingy little alley. A hand settles on the small of his back as he pulls away, sweeping both thumbs across Caleb’s cheeks. “That’s alright?”

“Ja-” says Caleb, light and gentle, eyes opening slowly. 

Molly kisses him again, easier this time. He kisses Caleb and smiles against his lips because this is just wonderful. Simply wonderful. He never realized kissing someone could make him feels so much, so full. When he pulls back this time, it's just enough so that he can see Caleb’s face, just enough that he can press their foreheads together and stare at him, cross eyed and ridiculous. “-and that?”

There’s a barely there smile in the corner of Caleb’s mouth, a slight crinkly of amusement in his eyes and  _ oh  _ Molly’s chest aches. He doesn’t think it should ache as much as it does but it does nonetheless. “Ja- that is alright.”

“Good.” Molly says. “Because I’m rather fond of that.”

“Than what is stopping you?” Caleb asks. Even this close, Molly can make out the cocky arch of his brow.

He pulls back, Caleb’s hands pressed against the small of his back don’t allow him to go very far, but he leans back as far as the embrace will  let him. He drops his hands from Caleb’s face to instead tangle them into the lapels of his coat. The full heat of summer has yet to descend upon them. Caleb can still shrink into the collar of his coat like a turtle in its shell for now and not have it be absolutely ridiculous. But in a few weeks time that will change and Molly is very much looking forward to seeing him without it on a regular bases. His hands twitch at the thought of Caleb walking around in just a loose linen shirt, book holster strapped across his his chest. Maybe he would even tie his hair back. Gods, that might be enough to kill him all over again. 

“Mister Caleb, were you meaning to insinuate something?” he asks. With the shuffling of feet, he starts to herd Caleb back against the alley wall.

Caleb smiles ruefully up at him. The hands on his back press a bit harder, pulling them flush. 

“Possibly.”

He flashes Caleb another grin before descending upon him with intent this time. He pushes Caleb back against the wall in a thrilling reversal of rolls and locks them into a kiss. Hands fist into the back of his coat, Caleb’s blunt, ragged nails tugging at the embroidery as he works to slot them tighter together. A pleased hum rumbles in his chest and Molly can’t help but grin some more. Edge of his teeth pressed to Caleb’s mouth, he nips at his lower lip and when Caleb jumps under him he does it again. And again and again until Caleb is sighing open mouthed against his lips, hot breath fanning across his cheeks. Molly gives another sharp bite that has his breath stuttering, then plants a kiss there, an apology, before pulling back for a fresh breath. 

Caleb is bright red and panting, flushed high in his cheeks and in his ears. His eyes are half lidded and beginning to haze around the edges. They looking almost navy in the shadows cast by the buildings that flank them. Molly pulls a hand away from his coat to thumb gently at his abused lower lip. 

“Gods that’s just dreadfully.” he mutters, fondness irrevocably laced into his words. “Pink really isn’t your color.”

Caleb rolls his eyes. Huffing out something he doesn’t quit catch, he hauls Molly back down to his kiss swollen lips. “You’re fault” he says, laying a bruising kiss to Molly’s lips before he can answer. 

Molly kisses back with the same an enthusiasm. The hand on Caleb's jaw slides up into his hair, stubble scraping along his palm. He kisses Caleb firmly, holding him in place, with his warm body against the cool brick. 

“I’ll gladly take responsibility for this one, dear.” he manages to get out between breaths, before diving back in for another round. 

Caleb’s chest shakes with a chuckle that Molly greedily swallows down. He loves that sound, that rare breathy burst of laughter. Were he could, Molly thinks he might like to wrap it up and stow it in a pocket like a precious treasures. Seems the warm crush of lips is leading him to wax ill advised poetics. So instead he nips at Caleb’s lips once more, sliding his tongue in they part. He’d much rather focus on the feeling of it then distract himself with metaphors. He focus on the warm give of Caleb’s mouth. On his hands pressed tight to the middle of his back with the long fingers curling and uncurling there. Briefly wonders about the more interesting, more illicit things fingers like those could do before he’s brought back into the moment by the little noise Caleb makes as he shifts against him. 

Now, Molly knows that he doesn’t have the best impulse control in the world, and he knows there are consequences for getting up to - a bit of fun in a perfectly public alley in the middle of broad daylight. Namely being charged with public indecency. But that one little shift and that strained little sound from Caleb’s throat and the limited rational thought that Mollymauk possesses is thrown right out the proverbial window. With a grunt of his own, he moves to mouth down along Caleb’s throat, and carefully nudges a knee between his legs, weary for any signs that this might be too much to fast. Caleb responses with vigor, choking out a breathy moan that further redirects the blood flow from his brain. One hand flies up from the back of Molly’s coat to tangle in his hair, and Caleb pulls him back up to his waiting mouth. Molly lets himself be moved with easy. He like having Caleb hands guiding him, solid and grounding against the nape of his neck as he leads Molly up into another wanton kiss. They press in close, the air between them growing muggy with their wet breath and the little groans Caleb gives every time his hips twitch up into Molly.

His hands have wandered, roaming curiously across the different planes of Caleb’s body, restless in their wanderings. They rove up and down Caleb’s arms, settling briefly on his shoulders before seeking new perches. He glides them down his chest, palms moving across the different textures, from the tangled and matted fur lining of his jacket, to the more supple give of his worn leather shirt. His fingers prodding curiously at the cool buttons. Molly presses one metal stud into Caleb’s chest and is rewarded with a particular ragged breath, like all the wind has just been knocked out of him. Its a head spinningly wonderful sound, Molly thinks deliriously. He pulls back enough for a breath, pressing a smile to the corner of Caleb’s mouth. 

“Yeah?”

“Mmmm” is Caleb eloquent response before he turns his head to recapture Molly’s lips once more. Molly lets his hands sink lower, past the bottoms of Caleb’s ribs and presses his fingers into the give of his abdomen, seeking out the noise again.

It's a one -two punch.

As his thumbs start to dig into Caleb stomach the wizard sighs, a barely there whine in the air, and he sags a bit against the wall. Molly feels the heat and the weight of him drop onto his thigh and sound that leaves Caleb is so divine that Molly rushes to muffle it with his mouth, desperate to know what it might taste like on his lips. 

Throughout this whole affair, the brightly burning fullness in Molly’s chest has been trickling down to his gut, like sand through an hourglass, sitting there heavy and hot like handful of coals. He wants Caleb’s firm, clever hands on him. He want to feel his fingers digging into his hips. He wants to pull Caleb away from the bricks. Wants to flip them around so that he can feel the weight of Caleb pressing his up against the wall instead. He wants Caleb on him or above him, he doesn’t care, so long as he can keeping losing himself in the heat of him. As long as he can keep kissing him and carding fingers through his hair and scrapping talons along his scalp in the way the makes Caleb shivers.

A breathy groan of his own slips past his lips and he tucks himself more tightly against Caleb’s front.    


“You two seem busy.”

He should have expected this, but Molly is still dazed when Caleb’s hands, that had been wrapped around his back a moment ago, fly up to his shoulders and push him back. He shouldn’t be surprised that someone is gone and found them because this is not a small alley and they’re not particularly well hidden from the main road. Anyone could have looked in and caught them, and it seems like someone has. 

Caduceus stands at the mouth of the alley with a utterly unfazed smile on his face. As if he hadn’t just stumbled upon two of his party in the middle of a passionate embrace. Molly is both impressed and annoyed by how unbothered the firbolg seems to be for having interrupted them. He makes to step back from Caleb, but the hands on his shoulders refuse to budge, fingers digging claw like his jacket, holding Molly at arm's length. 

“Everyone else is ready to head out.” Clay continues, as if this were a perfectly decent conversation to be having. “I figure you’d want to catch up before someone comes looking for you.”

Caleb, still red faced and out of breath, blinks. Then he nods, stroking a hand over his beard in that way that he does when he doesn’t know what to say. “Ja- um danke Caduceus,,,”

Caduceus inclines his head in some cross between a nod and a bow. “Of course, Mister Caleb.” Molly thinks, he hopes, that he’s going to leave after that, but Clay hovers a moment, scanning the pair of them with eyes that Molly’s always found unnervingly sharp. Then he nods again, and there's something more knowing in his smile this time. “Yeah, this is nice. Love is one of the most beautiful blessings nature can offer, wouldn’t you agree?” he doesn’t wait for a response. For all Molly knows he might have been talking to himself. He watches his shadow disappear from the mouth of the alley. 

“He is absolutely bizarre, that one.” Molly says after a moment. 

Caleb nods. “He- ja  he is a strange one,,,”

“This is why you don’t pick up hitchhikers.” he sighs. “Madmen, the lot of them.”

“Oh?” Caleb tilts his head, ghost of smile on his lips. “And what are you then, circus man?”

“Mad as the rest.” Molly says, and its seems like enough to breathe some life back into Caleb's grin. “He’s right though, we best get moving.” 

He doesn’t want to leave. He doesn’t want to move. Despite the interruption, Molly has absolutely no desire to go anywhere. He’s perfectly content here. He's perfectly content here with Caleb. But the others will come looking for them, the whole loud, nosy lot of them, and they won't be nearly as civil as Caduceus was. For as much as he would like to steal Caleb away from the rest of them for a bit longer he knows they’ll never get a moment's peace if the rest of the Nein were to find them sequestered away in a  _ “romantic little alcove”  _ as Jester would put it. He not especially interested in having his and Caleb’s newly budding relationship gawked at for six days, out on the road where there’s nowhere to escape the constant questioning and teasing. He’s sure Caleb feels the same. 

“We can pick this up another time.” Reaching up, he lays his hands over Caleb’s, still resting on his shoulders. 

Caleb nods. “Ja, ja ahh, that’s gut, ja. Later then.”

“Later.” Molly agrees.

He lets his hands linger a few more heart beats before wrapping his fingers around Caleb’s, pulling them gently off his shoulders. Fingers flex around his own. Caleb offers him a shaky smile and, gods does Molly want to kiss him. It's so tempting to just lean over and do so because he can do that now. He can kiss Caleb whenever he wants, he thinks with a thrill. He can just kiss Caleb if he wants to, just because, and he doesn’t have to restrain himself or remind himself that it's just not time. He can kiss Caleb. He can kiss Caleb whenever he damn well likes. 

He’d very much like to kiss Caleb right now, he  _ could  _ kiss Caleb right now. Instead he let’s their hands drop limply to their sides, and smiles. 

“Later.” he repeats. There’ll be time to kiss Caleb later.

Right now they ought to catch up to the others before they catch on to them. 

They set about righting themselves. Caleb rewinds his scarf around his neck while Molly rights his coat on his shoulders. He spares the other man a sideways glance. 

“How long do you reckon he was standing there?” he asks.

Caleb pulls a face. Molly’s heart leaps painfully in his chest. 

“I honestly do not want to think about that.” Caleb says.    
“Fair.” he offers an arm to Caleb. “Ready to go?” Caleb eyes it with some hesitation. “Too much?”

Caleb shakes his head. “You are ah- playing the gentleman, to impress me.” he says, but tucks his hand into the crook of Molly’s elbow all the same. 

“You’re absolutely right, dear. It's all a big plot to charm and bamboozle you so I can rob you blind. It is working though, isn’t it?”

Caleb doesn’t meet his gaze, but the tops of his ears do go a little pink. “Maybe a little.”


	3. Nott

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I didn't need to go this hard for this fic, but I did it anyways. Things really heat up in this chapter so be prepared.

 

Hands splayed out on the ground below him, Mollymauk twists a stray blade of grass, over and over through his fingers, staring up into the folds of the tent about him.

Some stupid sentimental look must has flicked across his face when he’d been told that the tents he’s bought so long ago at the crossroads had been left mostly to disuse after their resident wizard had mastered his tiny hut spell because every once in a while the get pulled from the cart and set up. 

“It’ll be so fun you guys.” Jester always insists. “It will be like really really camping again, just like old times!”   
Molly knows what she’s trying to say in few words. He knows that Jester can see how the changes he’s missed set him on edge sometimes. She’s just trying to make him more comfortable, trying to ease his transition back into the group by picking up where he left off. It’s a sweet gesture, and he’s glad to see the tents get used, he did buy them with that express purpose in minds. But they’re flimsy and bulky and take too much time and effort to put up. Caleb’s magic bubble is much safer and, if Molly’s being completely honest, he prefers being surrounded by the others to being sequestered away in his own tent. With Clay on watch and Yasha having left, so what reluctantly, the week before, it does little more than isolate him from everyone, alone in a drafty, shitty canvas tent.

And alone is unbearable.

Alone gives him too much time to think about things that he’s spent most of his life trying not to remember. Things he’d put out of his head, only called on when he absolutely needed to, now press against his skull and demand his attention. Sleep doesn’t help. When he sleeps the memories overtake him in vivid detail. So here he lays, on his bed roll in an empty tent, with the whispers of another life in his ears. He tips his head back, horns scraping against the dirt. 

He could go out and settle himself around the fire with Nott and Caduceus. He could share swings off of Nott’s never ending flask until he’s pleasantly numb and the voices are drowned out by the low buzz of liquor. He could get shit faced and pass out, sleep dreamlessly and wake up the next morning hangover to the nine hells and back. He could do that. However, he’s not particularly fond of using alcohol as a crutch, would take the fun out of it. 

He knows what he wants to do. Its stupid, but he knows what he wants.

He doesn’t want to be alone. 

He misses Caleb desperately, though they’ve only been apart a few hours. But being with Caleb on the road is very different than being with Caleb in the privacy of an inn washroom. They have to be mindful of any lingering touches or longing looks, lest Beau decides to instigate a witch hunt. It’s somehow worse, then traveling with Caleb before, well-  before the kissing, he supposes. Before, there was tension, apparently he hadn’t been imagining that, but there was still a wall between Caleb and himself, and Molly had no intention of overstepping that boundary. Then Caleb went and did away with all of that, and Molly finds himself in the privileged position of being able to kiss and touch Caleb whenever he pleases. It's torturous really. Because there have been plenty of times that he’s wanted to kiss Caleb in the past, but now he has permission to do so, whenever he wants. And it's very very hard not to just do that, sometimes. To just lean over and peck Caleb on the cheek when he’s just done something brilliant. But that would cause a fuss with the others and if Molly’s learned anything from traveling with large groups of weirdos, it’s to not start a fuss out on the road, where long days of travel and close quarters make people pissy. 

So it's been a very, very rough couple of days. He misses Caleb terribly. And can’t stand the lonely inside his tent any longer.    
“Fuck it” he mutters, kicking off his blankets. 

Group dynamics be damned, the isolation of his empty tent is starting to set a chill into his bones, despite the relatively nice night. Molly moves to the back the tent, lifts the canvas, and ducks out underneath it. 

Crouched low in the dirt, he sneaks around the firelight, dashing between the long shadows, slowly making his way around the outer perimeter of the tents until he reaches the one Caleb shares with Nott. He gets right up against the back of it and whistles, the quiet signal he’d picked up from the carnival. He waits a beat, and then another, listening for the rustle of fabrice from within. There’s only the distant crackle of the fire. It was bold of him to think that Caleb might still be up reading this late, but you never know with the wizard. A nagging thought in the back of his head tells his that he shouldn’t bother Caleb with this, with his loneliness and he neediness. But the alternative is back to his quite little tent and that’s just a horrible thought. He whistles again.

This time there’s sound from within, he hears movement. Molly waits patiently for a response.

“,,,, is there someone out there?” Caleb calls out in a stage whisper, sounding confused. Molly rolls his eyes.

“It’s me.” he calls back. “ I’m comin’ in.” he lifts the back of Caleb’s tent and slips inside.

Through the darkness he sees the wizard, propped up on an elbow, gaze scanning where he heard the sound of movement. He looks as though he’s about to cast his dancing lights. Molly holds out a hand to stop him.

“It’s just me.” he says, creeping forward a few steps. “It’s just me.”

The tension drops from Caleb’s shoulders. “Mollymauk.” he breathes.

Molly offers him a sheepish smile he knows the other can’t see. “Hey.”

“What are you doing, here, at-” Caleb pauses a moment. “-at two o'clock in the morning?”

“Well I-”  he bites his lower lip.

He what? He was lonely and mopey and wanted the comfort of another warm body? He was scared to be alone in his tent, with only his thoughts to keep him company? He was looking for a distraction from memories that won’t quite hounding him? They all have baggage, and Caleb doesn’t need to carry any of his. Molly’s managed with it this long on his own anyways, no need to burden someone else with his bullshit.

Still, Caleb is expecting an answers. He draws in a slow breath. “It was um- it was a bit quite, in my tent,,,” he finishes lamely.

Caleb shifts up in his bed roll so that he's sitting proper 

“You are ahh- you are having trouble sleeping, then?’ he asks.

Molly drags a hand over his face, settling back on his heels. “It’s never been an issue before- sleep. Can fall asleep anywhere, sleep like the dead, usually. But now I just-” he sighs, the sound coming from deep in his bones. “I don’t know,,,”

He’s tired, just- so tired. Physically yes, but also, he’s tired of this. Of feeling like this. Tired of being afraid of the shadows and the silence. They never bothered him before, before he had to think about them. Now every darkened corner seems to hold some long forgotten truth. 

“I’m tired” he confesses. “And Yasha’s off-  Yahsa-ing, and Caduceus is nice enough but, he’s not- not-”

“Not family.” Caleb supplies, and Molly nods.

“And I wanted to see you, I suppose.” he adds, because gods has he missed getting to talk to Caleb, just the two of them. Caleb is like Yasha, he’s calm and blunt and grounded. It helps. “But mostly I just, I think I just need someone to talk to? Take my mind off of things.”  _ distract me _ , he asks in too many words.

Caleb stares at him for a long, probing moment. Then he pats the dirt beside him. “Come. Come here, Mollymauk.”

Relief washes over Molly as he shuffles forward. A part of him was worried that, perhaps, Caleb would be cross with him for waking him over something so stupid. That he would think Molly is acting like a child that needs to be coddled, sneaking around in the darkness in search of comfort from the nightmares. They all have nightmares, all of them now, he’s nothing special. Still he’s grateful that Caleb didn’t turn him away, though he knew that he wouldn’t. He drops himself onto the ground next to Caleb’s bedroll and flops down onto his back, with his arms tucked under his horns. 

“,,, Thank you.” he says after a moment. He watches Caleb out of the corner of his eye.    
The wizard settles back against his bedroll, nodding. “Of course, I - uhh, it has not been so easy for you. You have been through quite a lot recently, you know, I am not surprised you are having trouble sleeping after, well- all of that,,,”

Molly snorts, turning his attention to the canopy of the tent.  This- this is not helping take his mind off the issue. “Shouldn’t matter. I’ve been through worse.”

“Worse than dying?”

Molly smiles thinly at the the bluntness. “I've done it before, didn’t bother me then.”

“Only this time you remember it, ja?”

He bites his lower lip. He remembers  _ everything _ . The dying and the waking up in the dirt again. He remembered the Nein and the circus and Yasha. He remembered dying the first time, remembered the emptiness, the feeling of being hollowed out, of missing something. And he remembered everything that came before the dying. All the things he works so so hard to forget. But Caleb doesn’t need to know all that. Molly’s worked very hard to pretend that nothing's changed. If he can’t at least convince himself of that, he’s going to make sure his friends, his family don’t find out.  It's not theirs to bare. 

“ _ Ja- _ something like that” Molly says, hoping to lighten the mood.

It seems to work, or at least, if it doesn’t, Caleb has the decency to drop it. He lets out a low, breathy chuckle. 

A bubble of fondness rises up in Molly’s chest. He glances at Caleb again, to find his eyes already trained on him. A soft smile works its way onto his face.

“I did actually want to see you, if I’m being honest.” he says. “Gods, I missed you.”

Caleb chuckles again, eyes all scrunched up in the corners in the way that makes Molly's heart do somersaults in his chest. “Missed me? How could you miss me, we saw each other only hours ago.”

Molly shrugs. “It’s not the same with everyone else around. I missed being with you, like- like this. Just the two of us, it’s- different,,,,”

The smile slips slowly from Caleb’s face, replaced with something more serious. Molly feels the backs of his knuckles graze along his arm, feather light. He shivers

“,, ja, I suppose- it is. It’s- quieter.” Caleb says.

“Yeah,,”

They lay in silence for a long moment. It’s a different sort of silence, one that doesn't grate against Molly’s bones. It’s comfortable, Molly doesn’t feel pressed to fill the void with conversation. He’s content, for now at least, with the knowledge that Caleb is close enough to reach over and touch if he so desired. The gentle rhythm of their mingled breathing fills the space and Molly feels himself beginning to nod off. 

“Are you- is that comfortable?’ Caleb asks, suddenly and unprompted.

Molly cracks open a bleary eye. “Is what comfortable, dear?”

“Laying like-’” he rolls over onto his side, pointing up towards Molly’s head. “Like that? Is it not- I can’t imagine it is a very comfortable way for someone with horns to lay down.”

“I’ve slept it worse places. We all have.” Molly says. 

Comfort is a rare commodity out on the road and the road is where Molly has spent most of his life. He’s learned how to make the best of things, not to be to picky about his sleeping accommodations. He’s used to it. Spread out in the dirt like this is far better than being cramped up in the back of a cart with eight other people, having to sleep with his knees tucked up to his chest and the edge of a box poking into his back. 

“Still,,, I do not want you to be uncomfortable.” Caleb says, slowly, calculatingly. “It won’t do anyone any good if your neck is all fucked up in the morning.”

“Oh?” Molly raises a brow at him, amusement coloring his words. “What do you suggest, then?”

He swears he sees Caleb’s cheeks darken. He smiles a bit wider. Whatever he has planned must be good if it gets the wizard to flush like that and Molly desperately wants to know what it could be.   
“I have a few ideas,,,” Caleb mutters. He gestures for Molly to come closer. “Come here, come here”   
Molly obliges, both curious and amused as he scoots into Caleb’s personal space. He props himself up on an elbow. Caleb’s hand comes to settle against the small of his back, gently coxing Molly closer until he’s practically on top of him. Molly swings his leg over Caleb’s lap, giving him a look of confusion as he balances himself over the wizard on his hands. Caleb is looking somewhere past his left ear. The hand on his back keeps pressing, until Molly concedes, dropping himself to his elbows above Caleb, the two of them lined up knees to chest. Molly grins, rearranging his slightly longer form on top of Caleb.

“I’m a fan of this idea.” he says, bringing up fingers to brush through Caleb’s hair. 

Caleb presses, ever so slightly, up into his touch. “I figured you might.”

“Well you figureed correct.”

Finally, Caleb’s eyes come to met his gaze. The blue of them is lost to Molly’s night vision, but they’re still as breathtakingly piercing in shades of gray as they are in color. Molly’s whole face crinkles up in a smile. “Yalright down there?”

Caleb gives a little shrug, his other hand comes to settle against Molly’s waist. “Ja I am”

“Comfortable?”

“Mmmmm.”

“That’s good.”  leaning up, he presses a kiss to Caleb forehead. “That’s wonderful.”

It’s all rather wonderful really. This is more what he’d been hoping for when he came knocking at  Caleb’s door. Some playful banters and casual affection. Its very  _ very  _ nice, being sprawled out over Caleb like this. He’s warm, even through layers of clothing, skin burning with something bright and arcane. Molly can taste the crackling of magic in the air, can smell it on Caleb’s skin, a whiff of ozone and campfire under the dirt and old parchment. He trails the tips of his fingers from Caleb’s temple down his jaw, and when he doesn’t flinch under his touch Molly busies himself with tracing shapes lightly across his cheeks. 

Caleb watches him intently. Molly can feel the weight of being pinned under his steady, scrutinizing gaze. He lift his eyes from where he’s been admiring the sharp, decidedly sexy angles of the wizard’s face, to find his brows knitted up in concentration. Well, maybe that’s not the right word for it. It does look like he’s trying to pick him apart with his eyes. He can think of a few situations in which Caleb’s bright eyes on him might cause him to come undone, but this isn’t quite one of them. Not yet anyway, he thinks vaguely.

He lifts a questioning brow. “Something the matter?”

Caleb rolls his head to the right, blue eye boring into red with intent. “You have cat’s eyes.”

Molly blinks down at him. “,,,excuse me,,?”

Caleb shakes his head. “Cat’s eyes have this- this reflective layer to them that helps them to see in the dark, that is why it looks like their eyes are glowing when you see them at night. I was just thinking about how your eyes do that, Nott’s do it too. And Fjord’s, and Jester’s. I think it has something to do with your darkvision. It makes sense, you know, they probably all have the same reflective layer, like a cat.”

Molly stares back at him. That was,,, painfully cute, if not horribly, mood killingly awkward. “I’m,,,honestly not sure what to say to that. My eyes glow?”

Caleb’s brow furrows further. “You did not know that?”

“I don’t spend a lot of time getting dressed in the dark, in front of a mirror.”

“No, I suppose you wouldn’t” Caleb says. “They glow red, I- I don’t know, I suppose I just thought it was strange.”

“All of me is strange.” Molly says, making sure to flash a bit more fang than necessary. He’s not going to be apologetic about the way he looks. Most of it can’t be helped anyway, and he like his lavender skin and his horns and his jewelry and his tattoos. If Caleb finds them off putting that’s his problem. Some people are off put by tieflings, but Molly never considered that his appearance might be a deal breaker. 

“It’s not a bad strange.” Caleb says, quickly amending himself and Molly relaxes fully against him once more. “It is ahh- it is a nice strange. They suit you.”

Molly rolls his eyes. “Well that’s good, because I’m sort of attached to them myself.”

Caleb chuckles, his thumbs pressing small circles into his lower back. “They are a good strange” he assures him. “I am umm- I am rather fond of them.”

That perkys Molly’s interest. “Are you now?” he says, flashing Caleb grin that is all pointed incisors. 

He watches the way Caleb’s throat works a he swallows, gaze falling over his shoulder again. “I- uhm I- ja, I am. I am fond of lots of things about you, Mollymauk.”

Molly’s tail goes swishing up behind him. Caleb tracks the movement with his eyes. “Yeah?”

“Yes”

“Well don’t hold out on me, Mister Caleb.” Molly says

Caleb blinks at him, looking a little lost. Molly wants to kiss him. “Was?”

“What about me are you particularly fond of?”

“ _ Oh- _ !” well umm.” Caleb falters for a moment, fingers flexing against Mollys waist before he brings a hand up, leaving a cold patch in its wake, and gently brushes the hair back from Molly’s face. “I like your hair.” he sounds like he’s juggling a mouthful of marbles, but the soft, near reverent way his hand settles along Molly's jaw betrayed the sincerity of the comment. 

Molly absolutely doesn’t preen under the gesture. “Do you?” he teases.

Caleb nods. “I like your tattoos.” he adds, thumbing along the peacock feathers winding up the side of his face. “They are, -loud.”

“And here I though Caleb Widogast didn’t do loud.” Molly says in a sing song voice.

“Loud does not suit me, like it suits you.” he says. “I like that you are loud. I like that you are, ehhh  you know, not afraid to be yourself, a loud, vulgar rainbow.”

A painful snort escapes Molly, he muffles the sound in Caleb’s shoulder. “Is that it then? My eyes, hair and tattoos?”

“Well I’m sure I could come up with a few more things.” says Caleb. 

“Do tell”

The hand on his cheek slides up the side of his face, fingers curling around his jaw just below his ear. Molly pulls back from the curve of his neck, with some effort mind you, and Caleb’s hand falls away. Instead the backs of his knuckles brush against the silver crescent moon charm dangling off Molly’s horn.

“I’m a fan of these.” he says, almost absently. 

Molly leans his cheek onto his fist. “The jewelry, or the horns?”

He watches the way Caleb’s eyes trace over the ridge of his horns. “,,uuhmm, both, I suppose.”

A grin splits over his face. “You know if I didn’t know any better, I would say that you have a thing for tieflings.”

Color blooms across Caleb’s cheeks. He drops his hand to the ground. “Lucky you do not know any better, then,,,”

Molly hums. “Of course. Lucky I know absolutely nothing at all. Well-” he hides his smile behind his fingers. “-I do know one thing.”

Caleb lifts a questioning brow. “And what is that?”

Leaning down, he presses his lips to Caleb’s in a kiss that’s just this side of chastened. It's warm and lazy, and Molly can taste the arcane on Caleb’s lips. When he pulls back, his mouth tingles with it.

“I’ll never get tired of that”. And he kisses Caleb again. 

Molly props himself up on an arm and kisses Caleb deep and slow. Its late, and he’s limbs are heavy with a day worth of travel and mental exhaustion. He’s in no rush, under the cover of night in a canvas tent. There’s no one around to coo or shriek at the pair of them. Molly presses his mouth to Caleb’s slow and easy, burying the fingers of his other hand into thick hair at the base of his neck. 

Caleb hand comes to rest against the curve of his cheek once more, cupping his jaw in the cradle of his palm. Molly’s always been a fan of Caleb’s hands and he doesn't think that that’s a strange thing to admit. Caleb has nice hands, scholars hands, with broad palms and long fingers with knobby knuckles, bent crooked from spending so much time curled around a pen. He revels  in the sensation of the calloused pad of his thumb dragging of the lines of ink high on his cheek. Molly turns into it without breaking their kiss. Caleb's hand slides up the side of his face, drawing Molly closer, setting Molly’s cheek neatly into the curve of his palm. Those long, marvelous fingers span along the arch of his ear while his thumb comes up to rest lightly against the skin just below his horn. He sweeps it over the spot again and again, shying away just before lavender skin gives way to smooth kitin. It’s Molly's smile the finally pulls them apart, as a grin he isn’t able to hold in splits his face. 

“You can touch them if you’d like.” he says into the corner of Caleb’s mouth, unable to pull himself back any farther. Caleb is warm and solid underneath him. He can't think of a single reason as to why he should move. “In fact, I actively encourage it. Feels better then you probably think it does, promise.” and he lays a few kisses along Caleb’s jaw before diving back in to capture his lips. 

Caleb murmurs something but it’s mostly lost to the crush of Molly’s mouth against his own. He suspects it's something affirming though, as not long after he feels the distant pressure of fingers around his left horn, near the base. Nothing particularly firm, just a light brush of fingers close to where they push out from his skull. The calloused pad of Caleb’s thumb drags over the ridges of  his horn, over the first silver band affixed there before falling away. Caleb instead drags his fingers through Molly’s plum colored curls, scratching along his scalp a few times before they settle around his horn again, thumbing at the tender place where they emerge from his skin.

Molly’s tail curs with delight at the feeling, coiling up slowly like a spring while Caleb continues to brush fingers through the short, soft curls near the base. He hums against the other man’s mouth, but that hum quickly becomes a purr, a deep rumbling in his chest. It feels so very wonderful. Already his back is arching a bit with it. 

Its late, and they’re both a bit groggy from the late hour, so when Molly carefully coxes Caleb’s lips to part it's a slow and involved thing. He kisses him deeply, breathing slow through his nose so he doesn't disrupt the rhythm of their kiss. The smell of him, while maybe not objectively the best, still makes him lightheaded, warm with the desire to get closer. To bury his face in the crook of Caleb’s neck and leave a trail of marks there, all the while breathing in the strange mixture of freshly upturned earth and expensive, spice incense. Molly snakes his tongue out between them, swiping it gently against the seam of Caleb's lips, seeking permission. Caleb lets his mouth go lax, and Molly eagerly pushes inside. Caleb’s hand moves again, gripping more securely around his horn and Molly purrs all the louder for it.

They kiss for a while. Caleb’s hand wanders and Molly pays it little mind. He’s all heavy with sleep and the warmth of Caleb under him weighs down his limbs. He kisses and nips at Caleb’s lips almost absently, just enjoying how soft and pliant they are under his own. It's a very good distraction, like the pleasant buzz of of good pint in back of his head. They part every so often for breath before Molly dives back in for another long, unhurried kiss. 

Unlike the wizard, Molly’s mind isn’t keen, he’s not sure how long they lie there swapping breath and sweet kisses but it feels like at least a couple of minutes. Long enough that when Caleb’s hand falls lasks against the small of his back Molly briefly worries that he might have fall asleep like this. But the hand on his horn is still moving, fingers dancing over the rings and jewels pierced into it. Out of breath, Molly lingers a moment with his lips against the corner of Caleb’s mouth.

The feeling in his horns is faint, at most he can feel the weight of Caleb’s hand wrapped around it,  but little more. He can feel the pressure of Caleb dragging his fingers against his jewelry, can hear the clink of chains as they knock together. He can feel the scrap of Caleb’s blunt nails along the ridges and he shivers as the vibrations go from his horn to his skull, and shoot down his spine. He pecks Caleb on the lips, not wanting to move much for fear of dislodging his hand. 

In his sleep state it take Molly a moment to realize why Caleb’s gone lacks under him, save for his wandering fingers.

_ He’s memorizing them _ , he thinks, and it surprises him.  _ He’s memorizing me. _ The realization hits him somewhere deep in his chest, like a familiar old ache through the center of his sternum. Caleb is  _ memorizing  _ him. Caleb, who never forgets anything, is taking the time, committing him to memory. Molly’s mind is whirring. Caleb remembers everything. No matter what, no matter how long. The world could grow old and cold and Molly could disappear, whither away, vanish and leave nothing behind but an old coat and a handful of teasing remakes that will soon vanish too, but Caleb would still remember. Everyone else could forget him. All the good things he’s tried to put forth could be lost to time and he become nothing more the a rose colored memory in the minds of those who meet him until those memories eventually fade into dust, as all thing are want to do in the end, and yet- And yet Caleb will always remember this. Caleb will  _ always  _ remember the exact curve and pattern of his horns and every bit of jewelry that adorns his head. He will always carry a little, crystalline piece of Molly with him.

And that’s- 

That’s a lot

It's almost nearly too much and Molly’s insides curl in on themselves under the attention. His tail thrashes against the ground, kicking up a spray of dirt. 

He ducks his head under Caleb’s chin, pulling free from his hand, and presses a shaking smile to his shoulder. 

“Not to sound like I’m complaining, but you’re sure you haven’t developed any new kinks since I’ve been away?” he asks, trying to sound like his whole world wasn’t just tipped on its axis.

Caleb swats him across the back. “Hush.” he says, resting both hands on Molly’s hips.

An thin giggle slips through his lips. “Just checking!” Molly presses a kiss that’s all teeth against the side of Caleb’s throat.

Caleb jerks underneath him, hips bucking up and fingers flexing around his waist as a choked grunt escapes him. Molly blinks. 

His dick, which had been a mostly passive observer to this exchange up until this point, an afterthought, suddenly leaps with interest in his trousers. Not quite half hard in his breeches, Molly finds himself far more acutely aware of Caleb’s soft breathing, and the hot line of their bodies pressed together. 

Molly laughs, pushing back up onto his elbows so he can look at Caleb. The wizard is flushed and staring at the center of his chest. 

“Now Mister Caleb, I know you have a better poker face then that. I’ve seen it.” and he seals them in a kiss before Caleb can answer. 

It’s slow and languid, Molly takes his time licking into Caleb’s mouth and Caleb holds him firm by the waist. Very much aware of the situation now, Molly’s dick twitches eagerly and he rolls his hips into Caleb, unhurried, just to relieve some of the tension. Caleb sighs against him, meeting him half way on the fourth stroke.

It’s slow, they’re not looking to get anywhere. Molly cards his fingers through Caleb’s hair, brushing his thumbs against his temples and revels in the small shocks of pleasure that curl down his spine every time his hard length nudges up against Caleb’s. He turns his head into the crook of Caleb’s shoulder and starts lavishing attention on his neck, kissing and nipping at the skin there. He drags a fang knowingly down the column of his throat and Caleb groans, gripping him tight round the waist, thrusting up into him.

Molly sees stars. His breath catches in his throat as a bolt of pleasure strikes him, sending a rolling wave of heat down through his legs, curling his toes. He pants, breathless and needy into the linen of Caleb’s shirt

“ _ Fuck _ , Caleb”

A puff of hot air hits his ear. Molly shudders, grips tight to Caleb’s shoulders and rolls their hips together once more. The slow, rhythmic thrusts suddenly become a frantic grind as he starts picking up the pace. 

Caleb hands on his waist slip down to hold his hips and squeeze, coxing Molly on. Fingers dig into the dimples of his lower back, thumbs press against the prominent curve of his pelvis. Molly captures Caleb’s mouth in a searing kiss.

“Mollymauk,,,” Caleb’s breath hitches, thumbs stroking along Molly’s sides. Molly ducks down to nip breathless under his jaw. “Molly,,, Molly.”

“Whatever it is you’re thinking-  _ please _ .” Molly pants out.

Caleb groans quietly, his hands sliding down further to cup, hesitantly, around his ass. Molly exhales shakily. 

“Yes,,  _ yes _ ,,”

With two handful of ass, Caleb starts to cox Molly into a rhythm of long, deep thrusts. Molly can't help the whine building up in his chest. It's all he can do to muffle to sound in Caleb’s shoulder.

“You’re brilliant, absolutely brilliant.” he mutters, voice thin with the effort not to throw his head back and moan.

Caleb’s nose nudges against his temple. Molly lifts his head to meet him in another kiss. All the while Caleb’s fingers press insistently into his rear and the backs of his thighs and his thumbs trace nonsense shapes against his skin through his pants. Molly buries one hand into the curls at the back of Caleb’s neck, the other hand fisting into his shirt near the nape of his neck. His tail swishes behind him like a whip, occasionally thumping against the ground when the line of their clothed cocks has him seeing stars. 

And then Caleb’s thumb brushes, completely by coincidence, against his tail, near the base, and the surprise and small jolt of pleasure from it causes Molly to make a pleased little pep. Caleb disentangles them, pulling back so he can see Molly’s face. He brushes his thumb over the spot again and Molly makes another involuntary happy peep. He flushes, burying his face in the cradle of Caleb’s shoulder as he strokes the spot over and over again.

“It is sensitive?” Caleb asks, sounding breathless.

Molly shrugs. “Not- not all of it. Just at the base there its-   _ yup  _ definitely more sensitive at the base, fucking  _ hell  _ Caleb.” his breath is growing more ragged now.

Caleb hums, guiding Molly to resume their pace. Molly does so gladly. Not a moment later, he feels fingers working their way under the ties in the back of his trousers, pressing against the base of his tail where it extends from the bottom of his spine. Molly arches and keens above him, nails biting in where he holds Caleb. Those clever fingers rub slow, calculating circles over the spot, leaving Molly’s back bowing.

“Shite  _ Caleb _ , fuck.” he pants, he groans, and bites down gently on Caleb’s shoulder. Caleb buck up wildly in response.

The rolling of hips isn't nearly enough anymore, as the slight edge of need between his legs becomes a single, burning, pulsing point of interest in the forefront of his mind. He wants to get off, and quickly. All he can focus on is Caleb’s breath on his neck, Caleb’s fingers rubbing circles around the base of his tail, the feeling of his hard length in his trousers, and how best he can get Caleb to come in his. Caleb bucks up again, apparently getting desperate himself, and Molly gasps at the drag of cock over his own, his thoughts starting to cloud over with need. It's good, its very  _ very  _ good. But it's not enough. 

Molly doesn’t think to reach down and unlace the front of Caleb’s trousers, he’s already too far gone to think his way through the complicated logistics of something like that. Instead, he works a knee between the wizard’s legs, knocking them apart, and straddles one of his thighs.

A half strangled moan leaves Caleb as they shift positions, the heat and weight of Molly’s own thigh settling between his legs providing a delightful new friction. The sound of it makes Molly quiver. He wants to work more of those sounds out of Caleb. Wants to spend hours coxing those sounds from him. To take Caleb in hand and drag those lovely baritone groans out of him. Leave the other man spread out and sweating on clean linen sheets.

That the image he clings to, of Caleb sprawled out with hands fisted into bed sheet, as he starts to move again. The friction is amazing, he has to muff his keening against the side of Caleb’s throat. And yet its still not enough. Molly presses a long, hungry kiss to Caleb’s mouth that’s more biting and licking and swapping of breath then an actual meeting of lips. He then braces both hands on either side of the other man’s head and starts to grind with true earnest. 

Another blinding bolt of pleasure hits him, and he actually has to work to catch his obscene moan as it tries to leave him. Pleasure, white hot and all encompassing washes over him with every jerk and thrust of their hips. He can feel Caleb straining against his thigh. There’s a low, pleasant burning in his gut. Every thrust leaves him gasping now. Caleb’s fingers a pressing bruises into his hips, his head tilted back and his eyes screwed shut as he tries and fails to match the rhythm Molly is quickly losing. Molly drinks it in through half lidded eyes. The little crease between his brows. The quivering line of his mouth, lips sealed around his groaning. His hair splayed around his head.

_ Hands fisted into bed sheets. Sweat on his skin. Ruddy flush on his face. Head thrown back, mouth a prefect little ‘o’. Hips between his thighs. Buried deep in him, filling him.  _

Molly whines again, dropping his head to Caleb’s chest. It feels so fucking good. He can feel the tremors of pleasure twitching in his thighs. He’s going to come. He’s going to get Caleb to come and they’re both going to come in their pants and it's going to be messy and awful and undoubtedly sexy. He’s breath is hot and ragged against Caleb's skin.

The wall of the dam are beginning to buckle under the pressure. His stomach swoops.

The flap of the tent rustles.

“Caleb?’ Nott asks. “Are- are you still awake?”

Fight or flight kicks in. Molly immediately goes to throw himself off of Caleb, ready to flee. Caleb freezes, his hand clenching tight around Molly’s waist, holding him in place.  Molly flops sideways off of Caleb’s lap onto the dirt, dragging Caleb with him so that they’re both sprawled out on their sides. Molly groans as his shoulder connects painfully with the ground.

The little figure at the front of the tent freezes.  Big gold eyes blink at them through the darkness.

Caleb shoves himself up onto his elbows. “Ja-?’

Nott’s gaze bounces between the two of them before settling on Molly. 

“Why is Molly in our tent?”

“Eeeeehhhhggguuue-”

“This is your tent?” Molly says. His pulse is thundering in his ears. He slaps a hand down on Caleb’s shoulder, which cause the other man to jump, and gives him a once over he hopes looks believably shocked. “You’re not Fjord!” he exclaims. His hands are shaking, hopefully its not noticeable because this is suddenly a matter of life, and more importantly, limb.

Caleb stares back at him with wild eyes. He looks absolutely mortified but ready to go with whatever bullshit Molly throws at him.

“Of course you would be looking for  _ seamen _ .” Nott hisses.

If his heart wasn't trying its damndest to make an expedient retreat through his ribs, Molly would be rolling with laughter.

“Nott-” Caleb tries, but Nott holds up a hand and he clamps his mouth shut.

“I don't want any specifics” she says  “I’m not going to ask. I don't want to know.  I am going to go to bathroom, when I get back, everyone had better be fully clothed.”

And with that she exits the tent. 

A long, suffocation moment passes before anyone tries to speak.

“Well that was certainly something I hoped that I would never have to experience.” Caleb mutters, dragging a hand over his face.

Molly collapses onto his back. He’s soft now, and drenched in cold sweat. He throws an arm over his face.

“All things considered, that’s could have gone a lot worse.” he says. And it's true, he hasn’t lost a finger, or any other delicate body parts. All things considered, that had gone very very well. “I expected a bit more threatening, what with the stumbling in on a big purple demon deflowering her boy.”

Beside him Caleb scoffs. “That is a bold assumption of you to make,,,”

Molly’s brows shoot up towards his hairline. “Something, you’d like to share with the class, Mister Caleb?”

Caleb rolls his eyes. “I know it may be hard to believe but there was, at one point, a time where I was actually uumm- desirable.”

“Not that hard to believe at all, really.” says Molly, giving the wizard a once over. “You’re very charming. And, good looking too, if you can believe that.”

Caleb ducks his head. “,,, if you say so.”

Molly scoots closer so that he’s in Caleb’s personal space. He doesn’t flinch away. “I do says so. I’m an authority on these types of things and you, Mister Caleb, are what the people call ‘classical handsome’”

“Which people?’

Molly waves his hand about. “People.” he says, and Caleb flashes him a small, crooked grin. 

His smile will never cease to make Molly soft around the heart. 

“I should go.” he says after a moment.

Caleb reaches over and closes his fingers around Molly’s forearm. “You do not have to.” he says. “Nott- well maybe she is a little cross right now but, she would not mind if you stayed. She likes you, quite a bit I would think. As long as, well, you know as long as we keep our aah- hands, to ourselves, I don’t think she would care about your being here, if you would like to stay.”

Molly feels tingly warmth trickle down all the way to the tips of his fingers. He untangles Caleb’s fingers from his arm and  gives his hand a squeeze. “That’s a very kind offer, but it’s probably best if I go. You and her have some things to talk about, I imagine.”

Caleb’s lips pucker like someone's just shoved a lemon in his mouth. “Probably.”

Molly leans over to kiss his forehead. “I’ll see you in the morning?” the statement comes out as more of a question. His fingers tighten around Caleb’s.

Caleb nods, firmly. “Ja, I will see you in the morning.”

“Alright-” and he kisses Caleb once more on he crown of the head because he doesn’t know what to  _ do  _ with himself. “Alright. In the morning then. I’ll  be counting the minutes.” 

Caleb chuckles as Molly stand to go.“Get some rest, Mollymauk.”

_ I’ll try _ , he thinks.  He lifts the back of the tent, giving Caleb one last look over his shoulder. “Goodnight, Caleb.”

And he slips back into the night just as quietly as he entered. 

Caduceus is still absent from their tent when he slips back in. Molly lies down on his bedroll and pretends to sleep. Eventually he hears the shuffling off his tentmate as he enters, and he  listens to the slow, limbering movements of the firbolg as he settles in for rest. There’s a nagging in the back of his head. Molly can’t help but feel like he’s left the better half of his brain back in the other tent with Caleb.


	4. Jester, Beau. and Frumpkin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This really just isn't Molly's day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited to get to the last chapter of this. Thank you sm everyone who left comments, I'm glad you're enjoying this.

It takes The Nein two more full days of travel to get to a town that’s even worth stopping in longer than it takes to resupply and by this point Molly is thoroughly done with it all. He’s done, with the cart, and the horses and his bedroll that’s full of holes that need mending. He loves to travel, but gods above and below does Molly hate the open road. Especially when the open road takes them through a  forest in the middle of torrential downpour. By the time they’d gotten into town, late in the afternoon, the Mighty Nein is drenched, filthy, and bruised.

Molly’s hair is plastered down the back of his neck and around his horns and caught in his jewelry. He’d gone and folded up his coat when the first couple of raindrops has started to fall and stored it away in the haversack for safe keeping and now his thin liner shirt is soaked through to the skin and maybe the being wet wouldn’t have bothered him so much if he weren’t also caked in mud and his own blood, dried to his skin from a roadside scuffle the day before. His boots are mud crusted up to the knees and have been soaked through for three days. Every time he takes a step he can feel wet dirt squishing between his toes, and there’s a blister on the back of his heel that's been chafing for days now.

He’s freezing and uncomfortable and, frankly, in a terrible mood for it.

The Nein makes their way through town, towards a tavern Molly hadn’t bothered to catch the name of. He’s not said much since they’d gotten back on the main road, trying to contain his foul mood too himself. Their group continues on through the gloomy streets. Molly doesn’t think he’s ever seen a more miserable looking town.

He spies a flash of auburn out of the corner of his eye. Caleb is watching him, his brows pinched together, lips pressed in a tight line. He looks no better off then Molly feels. His already patched up, threadbare coat hangs limp and soaking from his shoulders like some sad dead thing, and he's got mud still caked along the side of his face, plastering his hair against his skull on the one side from where he’d been thrown into the dirt.

He jerks his chin towards Molly. “ _Are you alright?_ ” he mouths.

Molly shakes his head, waits for Jester to rush past him into the inn before he mouths back. “ _Fine_ ”

He holds the door open for the rest of the Nein to file in in front of him. Fjord mutters his appreciation, Beau slaps him on the shoulder and Molly clenches his jaw very hard to keep from snapping at her. Caleb lingers in the doorway, fixing Molly with a soft look, like something he would give Nott.

“Are you sure you are okay?” he asks. The earnestness is endearing, really, but Molly’s in too foul of a mood to appreciate Caleb’s concern. He simply offers the other man a tight lipped smile.

“Just peachy.”

Caleb looks like he wants to say more. Molly watches dry dirt flake off his face as he scratches nails through his beard and sighs.

“Ja, okay, fine, if you say so.” he mutters. “If you say that you are fine than you must be fine then, ja.” and he makes to go inside.

“Caleb-” Guilt curls, cold and slimy in Molly’s gut. He drags a hand over his face.  “Sorry. That-” he takes a deep breath through his nose. “,,,, _thank you_ \- for worrying about me. I’m just in a bit of a state right now. I really am fine.”  he says, peeking at Caleb through his fingers.

Caleb looks back at him with those sharp blue eyes, and Molly feels himself start to deflate. Then he nods. “Come on, we will see what we can do about getting you a drink.”

“Oh thank god, I thought you’d never offer.” Molly sighs, exaggeratedly, following Caleb into the tavern.

He desperately needs a drink, and a bath, and a handjob. Not necessarily in that order, preferably all at the same time, but he’s flexible.

The inn’s tavern a small, cluttered room, bathed in a warm amber glow from the lanterns hanging from the ceiling. An older half elven man stokes the the fire and the hearth, trying to work up the flame and fight off the chill leaking in from the cracks around the windows. The rest of the Nein have already pulled a couple of tables together. Molly throws himself into a chair next to Beau. Caleb, predictably, takes the seat next to Nott. She eyes the two of them suspiciously, so Molly flashes her a tight lipped grin, stretching his legs out under the table.

“So what are we going to do for the rest of the day guys?” Jester asks, cheeks resting on her fists.

“We got all that shit we need to sell” Beau points out. “Plus, ya know, can’t hurt to poke around the local shops, see if they’ve got anything interesting.”

Jester nods. “Ya, because I want to see if there’s somewhere I can get a new shield because those stupid bandits dented mine and now it looks all shitty. Plus maybe they have a bakery, ooh! Or a little dress shop! I like this one but it's starting to get a little bit tattered and it would be really neat if I could get a new one.”

“I don’t know if this is really a dress shop sorta town, Jes.” says Beau.  
“We’ll try and find you a tailor.” Molly adds.

“You’ll help me look?” she asks.

“Of course, dear.”

“That is all well and good but you know, we should probably sell the shit we took off those other guys in case someone tries to rob us again.” Caleb interjects.

“Who the fuck is going to mess with the Mighty Nein?” says Beau.  
“Those guys apparently.”

“Yeah, and look how they ended up.”

“I think that Caleb is probably right though, probably.” Jester intercedes. “So like maybe we can go dress shopping second maybe.”

“There’s a blacksmith's not to far from here.” Fjord approaches the table carrying a couple of pints, Caduceus behind him with the rest. They start to pass them out. Molly takes a long drink from his the moment he gets his hands wrapped around it. “Should still be open for a while if we wanted to get our business settle early.”

“And then that would leave us plenty of time to shopping.” Caduceus adds.

Jester claps her hands. “Okay so then we can sell all of our stuff at the blacksmiths and then we can take that money and go and buys some fancy clothes.” she says, wiggling in her seat.

“We’re doing this now?” Molly asks.

“I don’t see a reason to wait.” says Fjord. “Unless you can think of something. We can do the shopping this evening, get out of here tomorrow, so we can get back to Zadash faster.”

Molly sighs, shifting up in his seat so he can plant his elbows on the table. “Listen- I have been soak, freezing, and miserable for the past four days. I am covered in mud, and dirt, and blood, most of which is my own. I’ve been shot at-” he holds up a finger. “- I’ve been robbed-” he holds up another. “- been _stabbed-_ ”

“Listen to this fuckin guy-” Beau interjects. “ ‘ _I’ve been stabbed’_ we’ve all been stabbed, man, that’s nothing special.”

“Now Beau-” Fjord says but Molly cuts him off.

“No No she’s right. And honestly, not even the most exciting stabbing I've been a part of.” a very awkward chuckle rings through the group. Molly rolls his eyes. It was his death, if he can’t poke fun at it than honestly what’s the point. “Anyway- I’m beat to shit, I’m exhausted, I don't care what the rest of you do, honestly, but I’m going to take a nice long bath.”

“Is there even a bathhouse here?” Beau asks.

Molly shrugs. “One way to find out.” He throws an arm over the back of his chair and address the tavern at large. “Does anybody here know where a person can get a decent bath!”

“Everglow Bath House is on the other side of town.” A halfling man at the bar calls back.

He flicks fingers towards him in a salute. “You’re a gentleman.” he turns back to the Nein. “So that's that.”

Jester pouts. “Aww but Molly I want to go take a bath. But I also really want to go shopping too. Maybe we could all go do the shopping first then go to bathhouse together?”

“With all the love and respect in the world darling, I don’t much care what the group does right now. I am going to go to that bathhouse, I’m going to spend too much gold on a bath and a bottle of wine, and I am going to sit in there until the water leeches the lavender from my skin.”

Jester looks at him with big, round magenta eyes, her lower lip wobbling. “But what if we find something really cool that you might like and you miss out in it?” she asks in a small voice.

Molly reaches over to pat her hand.  “How about this- if you see something you think I might like while you’re out shopping, you can tell me _all_ about it when you get back, and if it's something interesting I’ll go a check it out tomorrow, hmm?”

A sweet grin breaks across Jester’s face, and she nods shyly. “Okay’  
“Okay?”

“Ya.”

“I’ll go shopping with ya Jes.” Beau says.

“I’ll go too.” Nott adds. “I need more ummm,  more acid supplies anyway.”

“Oh Nott! We can get you a pretty dress when we go to the tailors!” Jester squeaks.

“Oh!- Um,,, Well I don’t think that’s the best idea for me but ummm, but I would love to go with you while you get your- your new dress, yes.”  Nott says.  
“Yah I think I’m gonna hang back.” says Fjord, clearly not interested in the lengthy shopping trip the girls are planning. “I’ll see what I can do about getting us some rooms.”

“I’ll hang back too.” Caduceus says. “See what I can do about dinner.”

“You know we’re in an inn Caddy, you don't have to cook for us.” Jester says.

“Oh- yeah right. Forgot.”

“Caleb?”

Caleb jumps. “Was?”

Jester leans her cheek back on her fist. “What are you going to do with the rest of your day, Caleb?”

Nott’s eyes bounce, and not even subtly, between Caleb and Molly. Caleb pulls at his beard.

“Eehhee you know I think I will go with the girls.” he says after a moment. “There are a few things I need to stock up on and, well, I would like to see if there’s a- if there is a bookshop here,,,,,”

“Anybody know any bookshops?” Molly shouts over his shoulder.

“Do it look like I got time to read?” a crusty looking human in farmers clothes shouts back.

Molly rolls his eyes. “Well I wasn’t asking you specifically. Anybody else?!”

“Beddellers Books over in the Corner Market.” the woman behind the bar yells. “And stop shouting in my inn!”

Molly nods, miming zipping his lip shut and toss the imaginary key over his shoulder. He then turns back to Caleb and grins. “There you have it.”

Caleb has his nose buried in his scarf. “Danke Schoen, Mollymauk.”

“Anytime.” Molly says. He stands, dumbing his fingers on the tabletop. “Right well, I’ll catch up with you all later.”

 

Finding the Everglow takes more effort then Molly would personally like to admit. He has to pay a little girl a silver piece to lead him there but it's well worth the trouble. The moment he steps inside and the smell of lavender and sandalwood washes over him the tension starts to ease out of his tail. He takes a deep breath, relaxing his shoulders, and steps up to the woman at the front desk, a pale blue dragonborn.

“Welcome to the Everglow, dear. My name is Darleen. How can we help you?”

Molly collapses dramatically onto the counter, propping himself up on an elbow. “I must confess, Darleen, and I am in desperate need of a scrubbing, and a nice hot bath.”

Darleen takes in his matted down hair and mud splattered clothing. “I should says so. What ah- what sort of services were you looking for?”

“Let me ask you. What do you offer to help a person really relax, assume money is no issue, what would you suggest for something like that?”

“Well,,, We do have a sort of- spa package.’ she says.

Molly grins. “That does sound promising, tell me more about that.”  
“Well, you would have your own private bathing area and laundering for your clothes.  We can also ply you with food and drink to enjoy while you soak and we have some on staff masseuses available to help ease your aches and pains and help you thoroughly relax.”

Molly drums his thumbs on the counter. “Tell you what- I like the private bath and I will definitely take you up on the food and drink. Maybe-? No, another time for the massage but I will need these cleaned. And the finest bottle of wine you have. About how much will something like that run me?”

“Ahh that would be about- three gold then.” Darleen says.

“That sound like a fair deal.” and Molly slaps three gold down.

“You’ll be in room five, at the end of this hall here.” she gestures to her left. “Someone will be through in a few minutes to collect your clothes and drop off your wine.”

Molly winks at her, sliding her an extra gold. “You are a treasure, thank you.” and he makes his way down to his room.

It's a fairly spacious room, with a decent sized basin of water set into the tiled floor and a few buckets of steaming water set out beside a little stool in the corner, for guest to rinse off with before they get into the main bath. There are stacks of plush looking towels stacked against the far wall and an incense holder hanging from the ceiling, filling the steam hazy room with the smell of citrus.

Molly wrangle his way out of his boots, leaving them in a muddy heap then strips out of his cloths. They hit the tile with a wet smack. Once he’s totally disrobed, he strides over to the stool, dips the provided basin into one of the buckets a pours the water over the top of his head, letting it roll down his back. It’s practically scalding against his frozen skin, or at least it would be if not for his fire resistance. He does this a few more times, relishing in the warmth for a moment, before he starts to really clean himself off, freeing his hair and his horns from the caked in dirt and blood. Once he’s clean and no longer shivering, Molly makes his way over to the bath, easing his way into the water.

Its marvelous, the height of luxury. The hot, sweet smelling water comes up to his chest as Molly lowers himself down into the bench, tipping his head back against the side of the pool. The bumps and aches of travel start to melt off of him as Molly goes completely lax in the water. After a couple of minutes a gnomish woman wraps on the door and lets herself in, carrying a bottle of wine and a glass in one hand, and big wicker basket in the other. She hands Molly his wine and gathers his cloths on the way out and Molly is left alone to revel in his well earned bath. So he sips his wine, and it is very good wine, and sinks up to his neck in the bath. Head tipped back against the side, Molly lets his eyes close and indulges himself.

He must have fallen asleep at some point because when he next opens his eyes it feels like a far bit of time has passed.  He sits up, a bit groggy, and runs wet fingers through his damp hair. His freshly laundered clothes have been left in a neat little pile near the door and the water still feels hot so he figures someone must have come in here and topped it off while he was out. He sighs and reaches over for the wine, foregoing the glass all together and drinking straight from the bottle, and then rests his arms on the side of the tub.

“Mollymauk?” Caleb’s voice suddenly buzzes through his skull.

He nearly spits out his wine.

Choking and hacking, tears pricking in the corners of his eyes because alcohol burns going down the wrong pipe like that, Molly grips the edge of the tub and sputters. “Yes?”

There’s a pause. Then -’“Are you alright?”

Molly nods, trying to catch his breath, then remember that Caleb is waiting for a verbal response. “Fine fine, just fine. Did you need something?”

A pause.

“Where are you?” Caleb’s disembodied voice asks.

“In the bathhouse,,,?” Molly says slowly.

Pause

“Where in the bathhouse?”

“In the bath?”

Pause.

Caleb's heavy sigh tickles his ear drums, but from the wrong side. Molly pulls at his ear uncomfortably. “I realize you are in a bath, which one?”

Now he just confused. “I’m sorry dear, but I’m not following you.”

Pause.

“Scheisse Mollymauk I am wandering around in a towel right now and somebody is going to ask me if I am lost. Now can you _please_ tell me which room you are in, quickly.”

Molly’s stomach does a little somersault at that. He sits up a bit straighter in the tub. “fifth room on the left.” he says.

Pause.

“Alright, I am on my way.”

“Right,” Molly says in small, awestruck sort of voice.

He waits a beat, then another. Caleb doesn’t message him again and Molly is left confused, but excited in the steam filled room. He takes a sip of his wine, hands shaking.

The door handle jiggles. Molly leans back in the bath, trying to took like the embodiment of relaxation even through his heart is beating _pharm_ _pharm_ in his chest. Caleb peeks in from around the door, sees Molly, and sighs. He hurries in, shutting the door behind him. True to his word, he’s bare aside for a towel which he has clenched around his waist. Molly absolutely does not oggle his long arms and sharp shoulders and his narrow chest with the spray of auburn hair across it.

“Hey-” he says, too quickly, pulling the the bottle away. Wine dribbles down his chin, he whips it away with the back of his hand.

Thankfully, Caleb isn’t looking at him. He’s looking at the room, taking in all of the details with a little crease between his brows.

“This is very nice.” he says after a moment.

Molly lets out a shaky sigh and leans back against the edge of the tub. “Well I would hope so, I did spend four gold on it.”

Caleb nods, still examining the space. “That makes sense then, you know, I only paid two silvers.” and with that he siddles up to the side of the bath.

Molly politely looks the other way, distracting himself from the sound of the towel falling by running his mouth. “ Two silver just and a whole bath unused. You should have just told me you wanted to take a bath. I would have been more than happy to double up with you, split the gold.”

The water rises and inch or so, he takes it as his cue to turn back around. Caleb is submerged up to the neck, the heat of the water already turning his pale ears pink.

“I thought that maybe that was not the most subtle way to go about it.” Caleb mumbles, slinking through the water towards him. Molly offers him the bottle and he takes it, joining him on the low bench.

“And you wanted to check out that bookstore.” Molly adds.

Caleb ducks his head, clearly embarrassed. “,,,,, I did,,,”

“Are we trying to keep this-” he flatters, waving a hand flippantly between them. “-this, a secret then?”

Caleb shrugs, taking a sip of the wine. “I think we are doing a pretty shit job of that, if that is the goal.” he hands the bottle back to Molly, who takes a swig.

“Fair.”

“I do not mind, if the others know, if you are comfortable with that” Caleb continues. “But uuumm, you know they will probably find out on their own,,,”

“But there’s no need to flaunt it about.” Molly supplies.

Caleb nods. “Ja, you know, there is no reason to go around and tell them all directly.”

“It’s none of their business.”

“Right.”

Molly drapes his arms over the side of the bath once more, fiddling with the stem of the bottle. “Well I certainly don't mind playing things a bit closer to the chest.”

Caleb offers him a small, shy smile. “Then we are in agreement. I - ah- i like having you to myself you know, without everyone gawking.”

Molly hums in agreement. A little bit of privacy is nice. He doesn’t like having everyone in his business anyway and secretes and sneaking around can actually be pretty fun. Think of all the wonderful explanations he could come up with as to why he and Caleb seem to keep disappearing at odd times. It would drive Beau absolutely up the wall.

“What did you tell the girls so you could sneak off?” he asks.  
“I told that that there were spells in this book that I wanted to transcribe and that I was going back to the inn.”  says Caleb.

“Did you leave a little Caleb shaped lump under the blankets too?”

Caleb’s eyes go wide. “That is a very good idea, I will have to remember that.”

And Molly laughs. “Ohh- Well Mister Caleb, I would say we have a good hour or two before anyone goes looking for you. How will we pass the time, I wonder?”

Caleb rolls his eyes, but gives him an affectionate smile nonetheless. “I am correct in think that you already have a few ideas?”

“Only a few.” Molly says, setting the wine down on the tile, reaching for Caleb with his other hand.

Caleb shift on the bench to accommodate, turning to face Molly as he pulls the wizard in for a kiss. He makes it count too. They haven’t been able to do much kissing since their would be tryst in the tent a few days ago, and that’s really a shame because Caleb is quite good at kissing. Perhaps a bit rusty, but it’s not as though Molly has much to compare it too. That must be why kissing Caleb always shoots a thrill down his spine. Sex is nice of course, always nice, but Molly’s inclined to say kissing is just as good. He thoroughly enjoys the crush of Caleb’s lips against his own. Or how the kisses stolen in the early hours of the morning, before the rest of the Nein wake up fill his chest with so much- _something_ , adoration maybe? He hesitates to call it anything else. Affection perhaps. Regardless of the word, those sleepy stolen smooches make his chest swell and put a smile on his face that last for hours.  

It feel special, kissing Caleb. It feels like a lot.

He doesn’t dwell on it too much.

Caleb draws back with a little grin. “I like this plan.” he says, sweeping hands shyly up and down Molly’s sides.

Molly grins back. “You know, I do too.” and he kisses Caleb all over again.

Molly drags a hand up Caleb’s arm, over scars that have stories he doesn’t know. He’s sure the other must. There’s a new exchange of knowing looks that he doesn’t understand, a collective stiffness at certain names that he’s not a part of. Caleb must have left out the grizzly details of his past when recounting the Nein’s adventures in his absence. Molly doesn’t mind. The things that made Caleb Caleb happened, whether he knows them or not. He knows that they’re important just like he knows that they wouldn’t change how he cares for the other man. He likes Caleb as he is now, scars and tortured past and everything that comes with it. He doesn’t need the stories of a Caleb that no longer exists. He does wonder if Caleb will ever tell him, if he feels the need to include Molly in that part of his life.

He wonders if he would ever include Caleb in his.

It's not something he has any interest in thinking about now. Why should he? When he has Caleb warm and wet and most importantly, naked within arms reach. Much more exciting things to think about. Much more.

He traces fingers, lazily, over the curve of Caleb’s jaw before tangling them loosely in the wet hair at the nape of his neck. Caleb sighs against him, his own hands eventually coming to settle against Molly’s hips. His thumbs rub over the the sharp peaks of his hip bone. Molly groans at the feeling. Thoughtlessly he pulls at Caleb until he’s on top of him, pinning him against the wall of the tub. Cable doesn’t hesitate to throw a leg over his lap. The heat of him so close makes Molly shiver, he spreads his legs a bit wider to accommodate. He’s quite done with being patient. It's been a week and a fucking half and Molly needs to unwind. He'd says he's about three fourths of the way there. He’s clean and warm, he’s delightfully buzzed, and he’s swapping spit with his favorite wizard. Not a bad way to spend the day, but he can think of a few things that could improve it considerably, all parties willing of course.

Parting his lips at the request of Caleb’s probing tongue is almost second nature at this point. His fist tightens a bit in Caleb’s hair and Caleb lets out a small noise of approval.

The hands around his waist move up to cup his jaw, so Molly’s hand slides down Caleb back, fingers tracing the line of his spine under his pale, pinkish skin, eliciting a full body shudder from him. Molly can’t help but grin at that. He likes that he’s able to pull these sort of reaction from Caleb, especially since Caleb works so hard to make make himself seem unflappable. It's nice to know that he can get Caleb to lower his walls. That he feels comfortable enough with Molly to let his guard down. Really, that's all Molly ever wanted. For Caleb to feel comfortable and safe with their little motley crew, and, maybe, more specifically him. He places one more peck to Caleb’s lips before pulling away for a breath. He nudges his nose along Caleb’s jaw, butts one of his horns affectionately against Caleb’s temple as he gathers himself.

Caleb smells like the sweet scented bath water and honey and copper. His pale shoulders have an interesting dusting of freckles across the tops of them. Molly kisses there, mouths over the spot a moment so he can explore the sharp curve of his shoulder with his tongue and teeth. Caleb jumps under him at the feeling of pointed incisors nipping at his skin, his shallow breath in Molly’s ear. Ever the quick learner, Molly moves up to the column of Caleb’s throat, laying down gentle nips  there that are quickly followed by sweet kisses. He runs his forked tongue over Caleb’s pulse point and hears the other man groan, the soft sound amplified by the tiled, empty room.

Molly wants to mark him up. Wants to leave a swollen purple bruise against the paleness of Caleb’s skins. Wants to press the flat side of his teeth against Caleb’s neck and listen to Caleb whine the whole time he does it. He started to worry a bit of skin between his teeth. Caleb gasps, arms wrapping securely around Molly’s shoulders.

“You- ah- you said you had a few ideas?” Caleb asks, breathless.

Molly withdraws, leans back to look at him. Bright pink and breathless is a very good look on Caleb indeed.

“Well, I have always wanted to defile an expensive bath-” Molly says slowly, setting his hands on tops of Caleb’s thighs. Caleb swallows. “Would that be something you're interested in?”

He nods, tongue flicking out to wet his lips. Molly tracks the movement with a little whimper “I think that- _yes_ very much so, please.”

“Alright then.”

Molly takes Caleb’s face in both hands and pulls him in for a searing kiss that sets his already fraying nerves alight. He works them into an open mouthed kiss before sliding fingers around to the back of Caleb’s head. He tugs at his hair, causing Caleb’s breath to pitch, and guides him down to the juncture of his neck. Thankfully Caleb is clever, it doesn’t take him more then a second to figure out what Molly is asking for. He starts lavishing kissing along the column of his throat,  across the tops of his shoulders, along his clavicle, down to however much of Molly’s chest he can reach from where he’s sitting. It's almost as if he was waiting for permission to explore him. His hands now rove freely over Molly’s ribs, brush gently over his stomach. It's when his fingers brush across a nipple that Molly tips his head back against the side of the tub, hand still tangled loosely in Caleb’s hair.

“Gods, you’re brilliant.” he murmurs as Caleb’s fingers brush over the spot again.

“Not pierced?’’ Caleb asks.

Molly shakes his head weakly. “Told you- they get caught on shit-”

Caleb hums and continues kissing along the top of Molly’s chest, and Molly groans.

The ache between his legs is getting hard to ignore now, especially with Caleb in his lap, hovering over the place Molly needs attention the most. Frankly, Molly can’t take the teasing anymore. He braces his hands on the side of the tub and hoisted himself up with a grunt. Caleb tries to follow him as he goes, mindlessly pressing kisses to whatever bit of skin he can reach. They land across his chest and over his ribs. They’re peppered between scars and down his stomach until Molly hoists himself out of reach and Caleb blinks up dazedly at him, hands falling away.

Molly can’t help but beam down at him, the fluttering in his stomach pushes a smile onto his face. He’s just paints such a painfully attractive picture. Caleb is half kneeling between his legs, submerged just below his heaving chest in the hot bath that’s given his skin a soft, pinkish glow. The blush blooms in the tops of his ears and high in his cheeks and down his shoulders and neck and even over the top of his chest too. His hair is damp and pushed back from his face from Molly carding his fingers through it. Droplets of water catch in his beard and Molly watches one as it falls and slides down the line of his throat. He desperately wants to lean over and lap it up. But there will be time for that later.

Caleb’s eyes, blown wide and navy blue, drink him in. They follow the water as it rolls off of him to form a little puddle on the tiled floor, down across his chest. They linger, briefly, on the large knot of scar tissue over his heart, and Molly thinks he catches a flicker of something dark cross Caleb’s face before continuing their path down the long, elegant lines of his toned figure. He preens under how they trace the curve of his slim waist and strong stomach. They drag past his navel and he takes in the way Caleb bites his lip as they catch on the silver piercing through his belly button and files that away for later. Finally they land on the curve of his hardening length, jutting out from between his legs and Caleb makes a helpless sort of noise in the back of his throat.

“ _Ooooooooooh_ _booooooy_ ”  its strained and tight. Caleb drags a hand down his face, staring with something like wide eyed wonder, and flushed so red under his fingers that Molly’s almost worried he might collapse from the heat. His jaw works furiously, but no sound comes out. Molly’s not sure if he should be pleased or worried that he seems to have broken the wizard.

So he laughs, high and tittering because this is not usually how people react when he pulls out his dick. They usually just- get on with what they’re getting on with with little comment and certainly no gawking. Though, he can recall receiving a compliment on it once or twice after the fact. He tries to keep his posture relaxed but his tail gives him away, flicking back and forth nervously.

“This isn’t the first time you’ve seen my junk.” he points out.

Caleb’s jaw clenches. “I know that,,,” he says, slowly. “It’s just- its been a while and I have never, never seen it when it was this-”

“Hard?” Molly supplies.

“ _Ja-_!” he swallowed thickly, it looks like it takes a lot more effort then it should. His eyes are round as the two full moons and he looks more overwhelmed than anything. Maybe Molly pushed it a bit far.

“Ya Alright down there? You know we don't have to-”

“ _No-_ ” Caleb gathers his breath, and tries again. “Nein, no, I am fine its just,,, it's been - too long, too long, and I ahhh, well I am not really sure how to- how to start,,,” he says.

Molly worries his lower lip between his teeth. More than anything he wants Caleb to have a good time with this. It's no fun if everyone isn't comfortable and relaxed. He’s just not quite sure how to fix that.

He reaches towards Caleb, hesitantly. “Can I?” and Caleb nods emphatically. So Molly trails his fingers down his arms and draws them up out of the water. “Just-” With his fingers around his wrists, he places Caleb’s hands on his upper thighs. They’re warm and broad and he shivers “- just watch,,,”

To be completely honest, Molly is a little out of his depth here. He’s never been with a partner who hasn’t know how to get him well and truly fucked. Usually all he has to do is tell them what he wants done, and they do it. They’re professional like that. But Caleb isn't hired company, and Molly’s not quite sure how to proceed. He’s not used to taking the lead in these sort of things but he's sure he’s heard somewhere, maybe from Jester or just around, that some people like to watch. Some people get off on watching. Maybe that’s something? Maybe that would help Caleb to relax. He tires to imagine the reverse. Of Caleb  with his leg spread and his hand fisted around his cock, eyes trained on Molly and- yes, _yup_ definitely, its definitely sexy. He takes a shaky breath, rubbing his fingers over the backs of Caleb’s knuckles a few times before proceeding.

Sex is still sex and it’s always good, so when his fingers close around the hard heat of his length he lets out a breathy little sigh at the feeling. He starts tugging at his dick absently, letting his head loll a bit onto his shoulders as the first waves of pleasure start to crash over him.

“Fuck-”

Caleb’s grip tighten, his fingers digging insistently into the meat of Molly’s thighs. “Mollymauk,,”

“Mmmm?” Molly cracks a bleary eye to look at him. He’s so scarlet his hairline is starting to bleed into his skin but he’s watching, lips slightly parted. Molly grins, even if he has to fight back a moan to do it. “It’s a good view down there, then?” and he drags his fingers over the metal pierced through the underside of his shaft.

Those had been a bitch to get, he was very basically bedridden for a couple of days after getting them done. But watching the way Caleb’s jaw works as he trails his fingers over them and shivers in delight, he can absolutely say that it was well worth it. He takes himself in hand again, smearing small beads of precome down his shaft, letting out a little huff of pleasure. He keeps his eyes open this time, forces himself to go slow even though the pace is agonizing, especially after the weeks he’s had, and he’d like nothing more then throw himself back onto the cold tile and fuck up into his figures until he’s satisfied. He forced himself to move slowly, taking in all of Caleb while he does, watching the way he watches the head of his cock poke out of the circle of his fingers every time he bucks up into them.

“Scheisse Molly.” Caleb mutters. His nails bite, ever so slightly into Molly’s skin and he shivers. “You are- you,,, Du siehst umwerfend aus,,,” he breaths.

Molly groans. “I’ve got no idea what that means.” but the sound of it is nice on Caleb’s lips. He squeezes around his cock and gasps.

Caleb’s thumbs rub circles into his thigh. “Sorry,,, its just- I cannot, ,,,Common is so- it is not _enough_.” feeling bold he leans over a kisses the inside of Molly’s knee. Goosebumps prickle across Molly’s skin. “Wunderschönen,,” he mutters. He lays another kiss along the inside of his thigh. “Wunderbar,,”

His heart leaps up in his chest, his insides contorting themselves into strange shapes. Molly’s chest aches at the confession, like its not large enough to hold everything that it makes him feel. He doesn’t have the words to describe it like Caleb does, though. Beautiful and spectacular don't seem quite right, and Infernal is too harsh to capture the rolling in his stomach. He gasps again, breath hitching, and reaches blindingly for Caleb.

He wants to touch him, hold him, have that connection. He’s not sure why. His tongue can't find the words to describe it, this deep seated need to have Caleb near. To be held. He’s never wanted to be held during sex before. It’s a strange feeling that tugs at his chest. His hand comes to rest along the curve of Caleb’s back as the wizard continues to press kiss after kiss along the line of his thigh. His beard tickles and scratches the sensitive skin there. It feels so nice. His nose glides over the top of Molly's thigh, eventually finding the juncture of his hip. Molly slowed his pace further, twitching in his fist as Caleb lays a few languid kiss to his hips.  

“Atemberaubend” Fingers brush against his knuckles.”Molly, bitte Molly, may I.”

He groans, easing his fingers off of himself so Caleb can take his place. “Fuck- gods yes Caleb, please.”

The first brush of calloused fingertips against his shaft have him dazed. When Caleb wraps his hand around his cock, sweeping his thumb just under the head, Molly throws his head back with a soundless moan. Caleb starts to move, pumping up and down his length and Molly pushes his hips up into the wet heat of his fist. He panting now, head listed back as he revels in the pleasure. This is exactly what he needed. He lets the warm anticipation settle deep in his bones and clutches at Caleb as if he were a lifeline. He feels lips across his thighs and over his stomach, getting closer, closer to where he needs them the most. The brush of Caleb’s chapped and bitten lips at the head of his cock surprise him. He chokes on a gasp, body lurching forward to drape over Caleb’s shoulders, his head buried in the back of his neck.

“Fuck- _Caleb_.”

Caleb hums and kisses the head of his cock again. Molly digs talons into his shoulder blades, panting. Everything is Caleb. Every wet breath he takes smells like him, like copper and honey and incense. He’s firm under his trembling body and warm around his twitching cock and everything is Caleb. Lips part over the head of his cock, Molly clings to him.

There’s a knock at the door.

They jump apart, suddenly remembering that this is not only a public place, but a place of businesses as well. Molly quickly slides back in the bath, nerves on fire and heart hammering in his chest.

“Molly are you in there?”  The person on the other side of the door calls in. It sounds like Jester. “The lady at the front said that you were in this room so I came here to find yooooouuu. I’m coming in okay? If you’re Molly then just keep not saying anything.” the door knob rattles.

He doesn’t have time to berate this bathhouse for its lack of locks. He turns to Caleb, who's still bright red, and lays a hand on his shoulder. “How long can you hold your breath?” he asks in a rushed whisper.

“I’m not sure-”  
“Well we’re about to find out.” and he shoves Caleb under the water, just as the door swings open and Jester pokes her head inside.

Molly leans back, causally, against the side of the tub, one arm draped over the edge, his other hand wrapped around Caleb’s shoulder.

“Oh good Molly, it is you.” jester says with a smile. “It would have been like, really really weird if I walked in on a total stranger.”

“And yet you invited yourself in anyway.” He tries to keep his tone light and unaffected. Casual.

Jester rolls her eyes. “I told you not to say anything if it was you and you didn’t so I came in.”

“Makes perfect sense.” Says Molly. “Any particular reasons you’re here?” under the water, Caleb taps his wrist three times. Molly squeezed down on his shoulder.

Jester doesn’t seem to notice this. “Well we finished the shopping early so we came to take a bath. Did you want to come with us? This place has a _huge_ bath and Beau and Nott are going to scare off all the grumpy old people so we can have it all to ourselves.”

“You know, I think I’m fine just staying right here.” he says.

Jester’s eyes narrow.  A cold sweat starts to bead on Molly’s temple.

“ _Molly_ ,,,,,” she says slowly. “Are you masturbating in there?”

His lungs all but collapsed as he lets out the biggest sigh he has ever experienced. “You’ve caught me.” he says. “I spent four gold on a bath just so I could have someplace to edubate in peace, you’ve cracked the case, well done.”

Jester flashes him a pointed smile. “Okay then, well I’ll let  you get back to it” she says in a sing song voice.

“You’re too kind.” says Molly.

“Beau don’t come in here. Molly’s  _masturbating_!” shes yells out into the hall as she turns to leave.

“Gross! Jes don’t tell me that shit!” is the last thing he hears before the door slams shut. Quickly he releases Caleb, who bursts out of the water, hacking up a lung.

“Sorry!” Molly hesitates before laying a hand across Caleb’s back, rubbing slow circles. “Sorry. I panicked. Yalright?”

Caleb nods, but it takes him a minute to gather his breath. “I thought- I thought we did not care, if the others found out”

“We don't, I don't. But Jester walking in on us kissing is not the same as walking in on us when my dick is in your mouth, dear.”

“That is fair,,,” Caleb says.

Molly’s thumb continues to stroke over the tops of his shoulders. “Probably not the best way to break the news to her. You sure you’re okay?”

Caleb nods again. “Oh ja- ja I am fine.” he looks less like something out of Molly’s wildest imaginings and more like a drowned cat right now but at least he’s alright.

Molly smile sheepishly at him. “Well, that was exciting at least.”

A grin tugs at the corners of Caleb’s lips. “You are not bothered by anything.”

“I gave up my pride long ago, Mister Caleb.”

Caleb chuckles, his hand finds the back off Molly’s neck and Molly goes very very still, waiting. His thumb sweeps across his cheek. “Well, Mister Mollymauk-” and he draws him for a slow, languid kiss that has Molly’s eyes fluttering shut. When they part Caleb licks his lower lip. Molly’s poor brain can’t process it, his facilities all turn to jelly. “I suppose we will have to continue this later.”

He hears the words, but it takes him a moment to process their meaning. Whenever Caleb acts all suave and enticing like this Molly loses all control of his higher brain functions. It's a blessing and a curse. “ _Right_ -!’ he blurts out as soon as he can form words again. “Right, yes, right, later, definitely later- this. We’ll ummmm, we’ll pick this up later.”

A little self satisfied smirk plays across Caleb’s face. “Hopefully not too much later.” and with that he pulls away.

“Of course,,,,”

Molly watches him go, unabashedly watching Caleb as he gets out of the bath. He's all skin and bones and awkward pointy angles but Molly still very much enjoys the view, especially when the wizard bends down to grab his towel off the floor. He sags back against the side of the tub, almost faint. Caleb flashes him a knowing smile as he slips out the door.

It's a race to get his clothes back on.

 

He’s not sure how Caleb got up to the second floor of the inn without anybody noticing, but Molly is thoroughly impressed when he comes striding down almost an hour after they’d left the bathhouse. He greets the group, eyes lingering on Molly just a bit too long, and settles himself with a book and some parchment and a quill at an empty table near theirs. Molly take him in with his cheek leaned up against his fist. He looks like Caleb. Thin and a little bit shabby but in a charming way. His hair his dry and his scarf is wound high around his throat and Frumpkin is weaving between his legs under the table, butting his head against his leather boots. A fond smile tugs at the corners of Molly's mouth. Caleb is handsome, and brilliant and so very strong and Molly gets to have him all to himself. How lucky he is.

“Molly are you even listening to me?” Jester asks, and Molly snaps out of his reverie.

“Course I am, dear.” Loath as he is to pull his gaze away from Caleb, he turned back to Jester. “You were telling me about your new shield, which look marvelous by the way.”

Jester take the complement with a nod, and that seems to satisfy her. “The straps are even pink, so they match my bag.”

“Do they?”

“Yes.”

“Well look at that.”

“It was like, a really cool blacksmiths. Beau was totally flirting with the lady who owns it.” Jester continues.

“Please tell she she struck out fantastically.”

“Oh totally.”

“Aaah I’m almost sad I missed it, oh well.”

Jester giggles. “Oh-! Molly I almost forgot to tell you. They had the most beautiful sword there I have ever seen. I mean, I don’t know like- a lot about swords but this one was really pretty. I thought that maybe, well, maybe you could use it to replace the other one you,,,, lost.”

Molly had like Summers Dance, it was a good sword. Nice weight and balance, and it let him teleport, which was very fun. But apparently “ _opening Fjord up like a sack of grain and then immediately healing him”_ isn’t a viable, or practically option for whatever reason, so he's been down to his glass swords again. And they suit him just fine but- he’d liked that sword,,,,,

“I might have to go check it out then.” he says.

“I’ll go with you. It’ll be so much fun. We can do a tiefling only shopping trip, oh-! And find a tailor while we do. I still want my new dress and we could get you a new coat Molly.”

“What’s wrong with my coat.” Molly asks, feigning offence.

Jester shrugs. “Nothing I guess but like, you’ve had it like basically your whole life right? Don’t you want to try something new?”

“I happen to like this coat very much, thank you.”

“Whatever you say, mister boring pants.”

“Mollymauk?”

“Hmm!?” Molly’s head whips around at the sound of Caleb’s voice.

He's looking at him somewhat expectantly. “Would you come over here for a moment please? I ahh- I need you to help me with this.” he jerks his chin at the empty chair next to his.

“Course.” he gives Jester an an apologetic smile. “Sorry dear, but it seems as though I’m needed elsewhere.”

She flaps her hand at him dismissively. “Go see what Caleb needs. I’m probably going to head up to bed in a minute anyways.”

“Right then, see you in the morning.” and he gives he one armed hug before he stands.

“Night Molly!”

With a final nod in Jester’s direction, Molly makes his way over to where Caleb is seated. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t anxious as he drops into the chair Caleb had indicated, but he keeps his expression schooled into something blase as he crosses his legs and settles in.  
“What can I do for our resident wizard?” he asks, chin balanced on his folded hands.

Caleb is watching him out of the corner of his eye, so Molly flashes him a wide grin that’s all teeth. Caleb flushes and coughs into his fist. It so strange how he can be so bold and enticing in one hour, and then shy, but no less enticing, the next.

“I ahh- I did not call you over for- for _that_.” he mutters under his breath, not quite turning to face Molly.

Molly hums. “Than what did you call me over here for, dear?”

“Here-” he sets his quill in Molly’s hand. “Help me with these.” and he pushes his book of transcriptions over as well.

Molly blinks. “Oh. Oh no darling, no. This, this isn’t for me.” he tries to push the quill back into Caleb’s hands. “I’m not-”

“Sit Mollymauk.” Caleb says. And so Molly stay seated.

He swallows thickly. “Caleb- I’m no good with- book stuff. I’d be no help with,,, with this.”

Reading gives him migraines and this doesn’t even look like common. One glance over the complicated glyphs in Caleb’s book and his brain is already starting to revolt.

Caleb scoots his chair closer, so that they’re shoulder to shoulder. “I will show you.” calloused fingers curl around Molly’s, curled around the quill.

“Oh.”

_Oh_ . Molly thinks, a little stunned as he realizes how close they are. As Caleb’s hand that isn’t wrapped around his settles against the small of his back, and his chin digs into his shoulder. _Oh_. His hand trembles as Caleb guilds him through the first lines of the glyph he’s supposed to be transcribing.

“You seem nervous Mollymauk.” Caleb says, well, more like whispers directly into his ear.

Molly laughs, high and tittering. “You know, I'm starting to think that this is exactly what you called me over here for.” he says, low enough so that the other’s won't hear him. “Who would have guessed that Caleb Widogast is a secret flirt.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about.” says Caleb, but the corner of his mouth twitches. They move onto the next symbol, Caleb doing all the work while Molly happily lets himself be lead. To anyone watching, it would only look as though Caleb is walking him through the motions, but Molly can just faintly pick up on the _bum badum_ of Caleb's heartbeat, sat so close like this. _Well played Widogast, well played_. Molly wraps his tail loosely around Caleb’s ankle, which causes Caleb to jump and Molly to giggle. He leans against Caleb ever so slightly, the spade tip of his tail trying to find its way into Caleb’s boot.

“Oh, my mistake then.” and he smirks at Caleb.

Caleb rolls his eyes.

It’s silly really, to try and be coy about it. They both know that this just a precursor for what’s to come. The thought makes anticipation curl deep in Molly’s gut. He has half a mind to just take Caleb by the hand right now and drag him upstairs. Say to hell with the sneaking around and just tell the others that they’re going to bed, and not to wait up, instead of sitting here beating around the bush. But, no- he’ll let Caleb have his fun. He’s not going to push anything. This happens at Caleb’s pace. And if Caleb wants to sit down here and play footie for a bit Molly’s certainly not going to complain about have the wizards undivided attention.

Molly leans in a bit further. He has to arch his neck back a bit to do it. “Have I ever told you that I find your magic to be incredibly sexy?”

Caleb colors. “Aah- no, you have not,,,”

Molly hums. “Pity that. Well, maybe it's less your magic and more how you do it. You’re terribly smart I;m afraid, and it's horribly attractive.”

“Is its?”

He nods. “Most definitely. I’m sorry to say but I am positively charmed by that big brain of yours. Intelligence is one of my few weaknesses.”

Caleb huffs out a laugh. They’re practically nose to nose now. Molly lets his gaze drift down to Caleb’s lips. “I like when people know things.” he says, very eloquently. “It’s a turn on.”

He knows that the other’s will see and frankly, he doesn’t give much of a crap at this point. He wants to kiss Caleb. He’s allowed to kiss Caleb. He’s going to kiss Caleb.

Just before he can lean in that last inch however, a bushy ginger tails strikes him across the face. He lurches back.

Frumpkin is up on the table now, trying to wedge his way in between the both of them. Molly stares, mouth agap as the fuzzy little moutherfucker starts pawing at Caleb for attention. His tail swats him in the face again.

Caleb starts cooing at the damn thing, scratching under his chin and telling him what a good boy he is. He’d be more offended if it weren’t so cute. Caleb’s got that soft smile on his face, the one that does strange things to Molly’s heart. So he sighs and leans his cheek up against his fist.

“Go on and make yourself at home, I suppose.” he says, but there's no real heat to it. In all honesty, he likes Frumpkin quite a bit. Just not when he’s stealing the attention of his wizard. So maybe Molly pouts, just a little.

Caleb looks back up at him over Frumpkin’s fuzzy head. “Oh- sorry.”

Molly shrugs. “Aaah- ‘salright. I don’t mind the little bastard.” and he brings a hand up to scratch behind the fey cat’s ears.

Frumpkin pushes up into his hand. Molly continues to pet him until he’s settle in between his arms, rolling onto his back.

“He likes you.” Caleb says.

“Hmmmm?” Molly just keeps scratching between the cat’s ears. He my be a pain in the arse, but the little fucker’s adorable.

Caleb continues. “Ja, you see how he is laying with his belly up like that? It means that he trusts you.”

_Hopefully he’s no the only one,_ Molly thinks as Frumpkin bats at his hand.

He finds himself staring at Caleb again. It's not his fault, he’s is just too good looking, how's Molly supposed to do anything but stare at him all day long. His features are angular, his jaw is strong and he has that beard that’s almost to the point of being unkempt but somehow works for him. And he’s got that proud nose too, it's very cute. And his hair is such a nice shade of red, like rust flecked with gold that complements his furiously blue eyes so well, and those freckle-

“Ouch!”

Molly hadn’t noticed his hand caught between Frumpkin’s paws until the little bastard bite his finger, and hard. He rips his hand away.

“What have I ever done to you?” he asks, so betrayed. He sticks the bleeding tip of his forefinger into his mouth. “I ‘fhoughd we were friends.”

 

One by one the rest of the Nein retire to bed. Molly bids them each good night as they pass him and head upstairs. The fire in the hearth is let burn low until only a dull reddish orange glow is left to light the room. Those patrons not too drunk to walk being to find their way out as well, until it's only the innkeep left at the bar cleaning a few glasses. Molly and Caleb stay sat at their table, not talking, but there's a building sense of anticipation welling up in Molly’s gut. He tries to distract himself by teasing Frumpkin with a loose bit of embroidery thread from his coat, but his legs still jog under the table.

A good hour after the rest have gone to bed, Caleb snaps his book shut suddenly and stands. He doesn't’ speak, or make any indication for Molly to follow. He watching the wizard disappear up the stairs, unsure if he’s meant to follow. It only takes a moment of deliberation before he stands and does the same.

When he reaches the dimly lit landing Caleb is standing there, his back to the wall, facing the stairs. He straightens out of his lean when Molly appears.

“Hey-” Molly approaches him timidly. Safe to say, he’s a little confused by Caleb getting up and leaving so abruptly without a word. Especially when there has been talk of- other activity this evening. Not that he’s trying to be presumptuous. Of course Caleb is allowed to change his mind. Molly just want to make sure that their on the same page, check in. “Is everything alright- _mmppf_!”

Caleb is upon him in an instant, pressing him back, _back_ until he hits the far wall and _oooh_ does this feel familiar. His shoulders hit the wall with a dull thud. He sighs, fisting his hands into the fount of Caleb’s coat and lets his demanding mouth take whatever it wants from him. Caleb hardly waits fro permission as he slip his tongue into Molly’s mouth and Molly moans quietly against him. The hands on his hips squeeze and then just as suddenly as he was there, Caleb pulls back, a little breathless and a little disheveled. Molly blinks the stars from his eyes.

One of Caleb’s hands wraps around his, pulling it away from his lapels. He slips a key into his palm and closes Molly’s fingers around it.

“Do not keep me waiting long.” he mutters. With a finally kiss to the corner of Molly’s mouth he pulls back and makes his way down the hall.

Molly stares after him, head tips back against the wall and runs a hand over his jaw. His lips feel bruised for the force of the kiss.

“Fuck-” he mumbles into the night.

_What have you gone and gotten yourself into you perfect idiot_ , he thinks absently. He's quite excited to find out. Already heat is starting to pool low in his guts. Taking a deep, steadying breath, he pushes off the wall, white knuckle grip around the key. The cool groves of the metal bite into his palm.

The door to his left creeks open.

A disgruntled looking Beauregard pops her head out. Her hair is down and sleep matted on the one side. She's got pillow creases on her face, and she's eyeing him nastily through one bloodshot eye.

“What the fuck’reyou doing, man?” she asks, voice brittle with sleep.

“What are you doing?” he shoots back, to quickly, to loud.

Beau doesn’t seem to notice. Her mouth pulls down in an unpleasant grimace. “I’m not doing shit, why the fuck’reyou bangin on my goddamn door? What the hell are you doing wandering around?”

“Nothing- bed.” he’s tripping over his words, damn it all.

This time she does pick up on his choppy, brief response. Beau leans up against the door frame. “Riiiiiight. Where ya going Molly?”

“I told you, I’m head to bed.”

“Uh huh” she jerks her chin up at him. “Well goodnight then, man.” she folds her arms over her chest.

“Night.” Molly says stiffly, but doesn’t budge.  

The moment stretches on, neither one of them moves. It's clear that Beau’s not going anywhere until Molly either fesses up, or retires to his room for the night.

He chooses the latter.

He backs down, begrudgingly turning towards the room he and Caduceus are meant to be sharing, exchanging the key Caleb gave him for the one that Fjord had passed to him over dinner.

It's dark in the room as well. Caduceus seems to already have fallen asleep. Molly makes his way over to the far bed and throws himself down upon it with his boot still on. He stares up at the ceiling.

How long is Beau willing to stand there to try to catch him in a lie? Probably a while. He could probably wait her out though, she gets bored easily. But if she does catch him again it's going to insight a full scale investigation and damn it all to the nine hells, why is it so hard for him to get laid? And even if he does manage to slip past Beau there’s still the fact that if she asks around, and Caduceus might mention something. They’d said they don’t mind if the other know. Caleb said he didn’t mind if the rest the Nein found out about- about their thing. Nott already knows. Caduceus already knows. Fjord would already know if he wasn’t so thick about these types of things. Its just- its still feels _special_ like this. Call it selfish or childish or what have you, but Molly’s not quite ready to share his and Caleb’s newly budding whatever it is with the whole group. He likes his bullshit. He likes his secrets. He’s been enjoying the sneaking around and the playing coy. They’ll tell the rest of the Nein eventually, one day. But not today, not tonight. Tonight Molly would very much like it to just be about him and Caleb, and not what the others will think.

“You know,,,,” Molly nearly jumps out of his skin as Cad’s low baritone snaps him out of his thoughts. He’s laying on his back, gaze fixed straight ahead even as he continues to address him. “I’m a pretty heavy sleeper.”

Molly blinks. “O,,, okay,,,”

“I’m likely not to wake up even if you were to be a bit loud. So you wouldn’t have to worry about waking me if you wanted to, say, take a midnight stroll, or something like that.” he says, slowly, deliberately. “And if I didn’t run into you until breakfast the next day, well, I’d hardly think anything of it. Probably just missed you leaving.”

Molly’s brows furrow. “I don't follow- _oh_! Oh. yes- I'm- _right_ , yes. That’s- that’s good to know, you know. I’d hate to- bother you,,,”

“Glad we understand each other, then”

Molly nods. “Right.”

“Goodnight, Mister Mollymauk.”

“Night.”

Molly waits at least twenty minutes before sneaking out the door.

  
  
  
  
  
  



	5. A Lock on a Door

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At last- it's here. I think I've made you all wait long enough

The bed dips. 

The body next to his moves and Molly rolls over to fill the pocket of warmth that it leaves behind. 

He grunts, just barely conscious but annoyed nonetheless. 

This is the first time in a week that he’s been able to sleep in an actual bed. Whatever time it is, it's too early for this. He burrows down deeper in the bedding with another huff of displeasure.

“Hush Schätzchen,,,” fingers sweep across his temples before moving up into his hair, tucking loose curls behind his horn. “Go back to sleep.”

Molly certainly doesn’t need to be told twice. He grunts again, turning his face into the pillow.

There’s a soft chuckle. The fingers in his hair scratch at the base of his horn, drawing an involuntary purr from the back of his throat.

He falls back to sleep.

 

When next he wakes he’s a bit more lucid.

The space on either side of him is empty, and usually that wouldn’t be so strange, but he distinctly remembers going to bed with someone else last night.

Not ready to open his eyes and face the day, Molly fumbles his hand across the bed, looking for an arm, a shoulder, the back of a head. Only linen sheets whisper under his fingertips. He huffs out through his nose. With a great sigh, he starts to unbury himself from the blankets, lifting his head from the pillows, blinking back sleep.

“Caleb?”

The sun's not even up yet. A single beam of orange light peeks over the window sill, casting a warm, reddish glow over the room that’s still heavy with smell of skin on bed sheets. His own perfume. Caleb’s musk. Molly drags clumsy fingers over his face. The mattress behind him shifts. He glances over his shoulder.

Caleb is sat hunched over at the end of the bed, head in hands. When he hears the sheets moving he peeks over his shoulder. He looks exhausted, but fine otherwise. His lips twist up into what might have been meant to be a smile, but it's more of a tight lipped grimace. 

“Sorry.” he mumbles. “I aaah- I did not mean to wake you. Go back to sleep, Mollymauk.”

Molly sighs, rolling over onto his side to face Caleb. His head is to heavy to hold up, he falls back against the sheets. He's barely able to keep his eyes open, but he reaches for Caleb anyways.

“‘Itstoo early.” he mutters, words somewhat lost as he smooshes his cheek against the pillows.  Fingers come to curl around the back of Caleb’s shirt. “‘Stoo early. Caleb. Come ‘re” He tugs at him blindly, trying to get him to come close, to come back under the covers with him, or to at least lay the hell down. “Come-Come on Caleb. Stoo early. Come back to bed, dear. Too early.”

He paws at his back, floating in and out of awareness as sleep threatens to overtake him once more. Eventually, he hears Caleb sigh.

“Ja,, alright, I- okay.” 

The bed dips again. The warm weight of Caleb settles in against Molly’s side, and he’s just awake enough to fling an arm across his waist and push his nose into his shoulder with a happy sigh. It's much better like this, Molly curled around Caleb’s back like a comma, with an arm and a leg thrown over his hips and the end of his tail twisting protectively around his ankle. Caleb’s calloused fingertips brush across the back of his hand. He butts his head between Caleb’s shoulder blades with a grunt and promptly falls back asleep.

  
  


He’s not sure how long its been, but when he next wakes, he wakes to fingers gently brushing through his hair. Its very very nice. The motion stirs up some sun faded, half forgotten memory. Someone at the circus must have done this for him once but he can't remember who, its to hazy. The action makes him feel calm though, safe even.  Maybe that’s why he’s always thought to do it for Yasha, when she's having a rough go of it. He’ll curl up at her side and brush out her tangled, matted hair with his fingers until her shoulders start to relax. He’d done it for Yuli and Mona, after a con gone wrong. They’d sat between his legs and let him brush back and braid their hair best he could while they bumped along in the back of  a speeding cart. He’d done it for Toya, as they’d brought the poor girl back to the circus that one fateful night. She’d wept onto his shoulder and he’d scratched nails lightly over her scalp, holding her quivering little body against his chest like he foolishly thought he could protect her from the cruelties of the world. It’s been a while since anyone’s ever done this for him, though. Plenty have run fingers through his hair, for a number of reasons, but never with the express intent of offering comfort. He finds that he quite likes it. It makes his insides feel warm and tingly. 

He cracks an eye open. 

Caleb, backlit by the sunlight streaming through the grimy window so that his hair forms a fuzzy, unkempt halo around his head, is the first thing that greets him. He’s lying on his side, face smooshed into the pillows. The sun catches the sharp angles of his face, making his freckles stand out against the paleness of his skin. The first word that comes to mind is soft. He looks so very soft like this. With ginger bedhead and pillow lines on his cheeks. The first light of morning makes everything fuzzy around the edges and bathes them both in a pale glow. And Caleb is striking. Molly’s heard stories of feys and celestials and gods. All of them stunning in their opulence. With hair like flames and jewels for eyes. All soft skin and perfect grins, draped in silks and furs or else made of sunlight and flowers. Powerful, magnetic creatures with voices like song, so beautiful to see one is break down into tears, or so the stories say.

Caleb looks like none of these. There are deep, purpling bags under his eyes a little scar on his upper lip. His hair glows dully like spit shined copper in the early morning light. His beard is scruffy and ill kempt and his shirt is one size to big for his boney shoulders, stained and patched to high hell. He looks like Caleb, a little schlubby, a little drab. Molly  wouldn’t have it any other way. Caleb is stunning as he is right now, soft with sleep and content. His breath stutters a bit in his chest at the sight of him. No fey in all its resplendent glory could hold a candle to Caleb in this moment.

Long fingers with blunt nails comb back Molly’s hair. Bluer than blue eyes drag across his features, a little crease between the brow. Molly grins, feeling oh so soft around the heart and bit delirious with sleep.

“Hey there.”  he mumbles. 

Caleb blinks, the sound of Molly’s voice no doubt pulling him out of his introspection. Molly can't help but wonder what goes on in that pretty head of his. No sum of gold would be too high to know what Caleb thinks about when he looks at him. 

Caleb’s eyes soften. His thumb sweeps over the high arch of his cheek. “Guten Morgen, Mister Mollymauk.” he says, gently, so as not to disturb the stillness of the early morning.

“Mmmmm” Feeling sleep drunk and brilliant, Molly reaches up to pat Caleb’s hand, eyes fluttering shut. “Gluten mortgage,,” 

Caleb lets out a breathy chuckle and Molly peeks one eye open to watch the way a wry smile cracks over his face with blatant satisfaction. “You are doing that on purpose, I am sure.”

“I’ve got no idea-- what you’re talking about dear.” he says, stifling a yawn in his shoulder. When he turns back Caleb still has his soft gaze trained on him. Molly scoots over so that they’re nose to nose. Caleb’s hands come up to cup his face, squishing his cheeks between them. He lays his own hand against the side of Caleb neck to steady him. “S’ everything alright?” he asks.

“Of course Schatz.” Caleb says, “Of course”

And at that moment a smile overtakes his features, a real smile. It looks so easy and open. Caleb’s eyes crinkle up at the corners as this smile spreads across his face, and it's so warm and so gentle. There’s no hard hidden part to it, nothing secretly pained or strained about it. It's just a smile, warm and wide on Caleb’s lips and sparkling in his eyes. Caleb’s whole face opens up with it. 

For some reason, Molly feels like the one exposed, like every one of his fraying nerves is on display for Caleb to see. He feels so incredibly raw in that moment. It makes him feel nauseous, but a good kind of nauseous. Then thumbs sweep over his cheeks again, and Caleb draws him in for a kiss.

It’s slow and heavy, fizzling pleasantly at its edges as they both shake off the last dregs of sleep that cling to them. Molly sighs into it, fishing his other hand out from under the blankets to tangle into Caleb’s hair. When they break apart, he’s breathless. He takes a moment to regather his words, everything he’d wanted to say stolen away by Caleb’s rough lips. He leans in to kiss Caleb’s cheek. Then the corner of his mouth. Then his jaw, then his neck. He nudges open the collar of Caleb’s shirt with his nose and presses a kiss to his shoulder. Caleb’s hands settle around the small of his back, ensnaring Molly in the circle of his arms.

“Caleb-? Molly mutters in the curve of his neck.

“Hmmmmmm?” Caleb’s chest rumbles with the sound and Molly’s tail makes happy little curly ques under the sheets. 

He presses a sharp smile just under his jaw. “It’s later.”

Caleb hums again, board hands settling on the small of his back. “It is.” he says, with an air of disinterest that’s clearly fake. “What would you like to do about that,,,?”

Molly shoots up like spring, instantly wide awake. He throws back the blankets and swings his legs over the side of the mattress, fumbling his way out of the bed. He hits the floor and scampers towards the door, tail thrashing.

Behind him, Caleb laughs. An honest to god belly laugh. Molly glances over his shoulder to see the wizard propped up against the pillows, face all cracked through with happy wrinkles as he watches Molly fondly.

“You are excited, ja?” he asks.

Molly rolls his eyes, affectionately. “Course I am. I’ve been blue balled for the past eight days. Do you have any idea what that does to a person's health?” he reaches over with a deft hand and locks the door with a flourish. “Ha!”  finally some privacy. There’ll be no walking in on them this time. He goes over to his coat, stumbling a bit in his haste, and fishes a vile of clear oil out of the pocket. “Here, catch.” he tosses it Caleb, who fumbles with it before ultimately dropping it on the bed.

“You just- carry this on your person?” he asks. He’s starting to go red in the ears.

Molly flings himself down on the the mattress, dislodging Caleb temporarily. “It’s only polite.” he says, reaching around to undo the laces in the back of his breeches. Once they’re good and loose he throws himself onto his back and starts peeling his leggings off, making a real show of wiggling his hips and kicking his legs, and just generally making a fool of himself. Caleb chuckles at the display. He kicks them off the bed and sits up again, scooting around to face Caleb. He’s flushed and smiling, still in his shirt and smallclothes while Molly is completely nude. Not that he minds much. Molly throws his arms open in a grand ‘ _ come hither _ ’ sort of gesture and Caleb’s smile turns wry as he crawls over on his knees to meet Molly in a kiss.

Stubble scratches across his chin. Molly scrap his talons thought the coarse hair along Caleb’s jaw and licks into his mouth. Caleb pushes against him till they're flush chest to chest, settling between Molly’s legs. They sink back against the mattress. Molly twines his legs behind Caleb’s thighs. Caleb presses him down into the bedding until Molly is all but swallowed up by the pillows. Heat starts pooling, slow and steady in his gut as Caleb lays on top on him, one hand fisting in his hair, the other curled around his bicep. So Molly rolls his hips up into his, gasping as something hard nudges against the inside of his thigh.

Caleb pulls back, lips kiss swollen. “How, ehhhhh- how did you want to,,, to do this?” he brushes a bit of hair back from Molly’s forehead.

Molly leans his head back into the pillows. There’s so many ways to do this. Suddenly he’s overwhelmed by the possibilities. He’s got Caleb, hot and panting between his legs and the door is locked, and they have all the time in the world. He wants so many things, Caleb in less clothes for starters, but they’ll get there. He wants to kiss Caleb and drag his teeth and his nails over his skin. He wants Caleb to ravish him, wants him to make him feel so good that he can’t think. He wants Caleb sweating and undone. He wants so much. But it’s taken so long to get here and gods above and below he’s mostly just desperate to be touched. They can do something more extravagant later. 

Molly tangles his fingers in the hair at the nape of Caleb’s neck. “If you’re alright with it, I think I’d like to have you inside me.”

Caleb’s cock twitches against his leg even as his face colors a dreadful shade of scarlet. Molly grins.

“Yeah?”

“Ja.”

“That’s alright?”

Caleb nods. “Ja that is- that’s gut, yes. I have- “ he drags and hand over his face. “I am not so- experienced,,,, in this, as you are probably ummm, used to, but- I have read a few books with some- with some smut in them-”

“Well everybody’s got to start somewhere.” Molly says cheekily.

Caleb gives him a withering look. “I was trying to say that I understand-  _ conceptually-  _ what to do but I ahhh, I may not live up to your expectations,,,,, in practice.”

Molly lays a hand over his cheek. “Caleb dear, know that I am being perfectly honest when I say that I have no expectations for this.”

Caleb’s brow furrows. “Oh  _ ha ha _ . It is because I am a- a big nerd, ja?” he's practically pouting. 

Molly giggles. “No- well? No. No not that. I just mean that- this is gonna happen the way it happens, yeah? We’ll figure it out, no expectations.”

Caleb fixes him with a long, curious look before nodding. “Alright, ja, no expectations then.” still sprawled across Molly’s front like he is, he presses his lips to the side of Molly’s throat. “I am- you know, I’m pretty clever. If you tell me- show me what it is you want,,,”  his breath ghosts over Molly’s pulse. Molly shudders. “I want to make you feel gut, Mollymauk.” there's a moment of hesitation, then teeth bite down into his shoulder.

Molly gasps. “Yep! That- I can definitely do that. But, I want- I want to try something first. If you’ll let me,,,”

Caleb pulls back, propping himself up on elbows above him. “What were you thinking, exactly.”

Molly’s hands come up to play with the ties that hold the V of Caleb’s shirt closed, tugging them loose. Beneath is a swath of pale skin and a peppering of ginger hair that disappear lower in the the folds of the fabric. Molly bite his lip. “I’d like to suck you off, if that’s alright.”

It's only fair that Caleb get something out of this transaction as well.

There’s a soft intake of breath above him. Molly drags his gaze away from Caleb’s chest, up to his face. The wizard’s eyes a navy blue and blown wide. His tongue darts out to wet his lips. 

“Ja I- that sounds alright,,”

Molly grins. “Wonderful.” 

He tightens his hold around his hips and pushes at him until they’re flipped, Molly now straddling Caleb’s narrow waist. Caleb’s eyes go wide, like he’s surprised by this, and it really is rather adorable. Molly hovers over him and presses a kiss to his lips. Caleb sighs into it, parting his lips and laying his hands along the tops of Mollys bare thighs. The skin on skin tingles, turning right to liquid heat before goosebumps even have a chance to form. Molly’s tail swishy upwards, knocking against one of the charms dangling from his horns. It punctures their mingled, quiet breathing with its sweet chime. With shaking hands, Molly reaches over and undoes the ties of Caleb’s shirt the rest of the way, pushing the fabric down and dipping his fingers inside. Caleb shudders under him. Molly give his lower lip and quick nip before sitting back on his thighs. 

His hands creep down to the hem of Caleb’s shirt and ever so slowly starts to push it up. Caleb adjusts to accommodate, raising his arms as Molly works his shirt off the rest of the way and tosses towards the door.

“Wow” Molly breaths, laying his hands on Caleb’s hips “Just- wow.”

Gangly arms akimbo on the pillows around his head, Caleb is a sight to behold. A ruddy blush stains his cheeks an interesting shade of burgundy, the color creeping down his neck, slowly blooming across his chest. He’s all pale skin and freckles and sharp angles. Thick auburn hair covers his chest, with more dusting his stomach, and lower, until it disappears under the waistband of his small cloths. His ribs don't poke out nearly as much as they used to, and there’s a little bit of give to his stomach when Molly kneads his thumbs into it. He’s long and lanky, something almost feline to the way he’s stretched out like this, back slightly arched against the bedding. Dappled sunlight falls over the peaks of his form, making the pale places the light catches glow. Now, Molly's never had much a of a foothold in the art word, but he’s at least ninety percent sure if he went and looked at those ‘masterpieces’ that rich folk hang up in their homes they’d probably look like something like this. It’s certainly an image he’d like to have hanging over his mantle.

“Look at you” 

Caleb huffs through his nose, like he thinks that Molly could be anything but genuine in his delight right now. Slowly, he drops his arms to his sides. “I am not much to look at, in um -in comparison to-”  he gestures vaguely at Molly. “- to all of that. You are, you know, ahh- a hard act to follow.” 

Molly brings his hands up to Caleb’s shoulders, kneading the heel of his palms against his skin, working his way down his chest in slow, deep circles. “Take the compliment, dear.” he says, scratching fingers lightly through the hair on his chest before resuming his kneading. “For my sake at least.” he leans over to kiss the corner of his mouth. “Let yourself enjoy this.”

Some of the tension eases under his hands, and Caleb sighs, turning to meet Molly in a proper kiss. “Ja. okay, I can- I can to that,,,,”

Molly bumps the side of his horn affectionately against Caleb chin. “That’s a good boy.” and he presses lips the the column of his throat. 

He noses his way down Caleb’s form, laying an occasional kiss here or there, scraping his teeth across a nipple just to hear Caleb gasp. Kneads thumbs into his stomach to get his back to arc a bit as he slips out of the wizard’s lap. Hands on his shins, Molly ever so slowly eases Caleb’s legs apart, watching and listening for any signs of hesitation. There nothing more then the sharp intake of breath above him and a deepening of that lovely pink flush as Caleb spreads his legs. Molly takes that a sign of encouragement to move forward. 

He tugs at Caleb’s smallclothes. “Can I?”

Caleb sits up a bit “I’ve got it”  

“Alright.”

Caleb wrestles his underthings down to his knees and kicks them off. He then settles back against the pillows.

Downy blond-red hair dips below his navel before it starts to grow darker and thicker across his pubic bone. His half hard cock in nestled in the curls, pink and rounded and adorably human. All in all, it's a very nice cock. Molly feels himself twitch a bit at the promise of having that inside of him, but later- later. He gets himself comfortable between Caleb’s legs, kissing one knee, then the other, before wrapping a hand around Caleb’s length.

There’s another sharp intake of breath above him as he curls his fingers around Caleb’s cock, he starts to work him up to full hardness. Molly runs his free hand over Caleb’s leg, rubbing circles into his thigh with his thumb. Caleb starts to go soft and pliant under his ministrations. His eyes flutter shut, a little crease forming between his brows, clearly trying to focus on the sensation of long, calloused finger around his length. Molly runs his thumb over the head, something he’s found enjoyable in the past, and Caleb’s breath hiccups in his chest, hips twitching a bit. 

“That is nice.” Caleb mutters, face turned into the sheets.

And Molly laughs, because he doesn’t think he’s ever seen Caleb this relaxed and unguarded in all the time he’s traveled with him. Figures that sex would do that to a person but, still.  It's a nice change of pace, and he’s glad to be the one to give Caleb a respite from his anxieties, however brief that is. He sweep his thumb over the head again. 

“And we haven’t even gotten to the exciting bit yet.” he teases. Caleb merely sighs, adrift in his pleasure.

Molly strokes him a few more times before he decides that Caleb is hard enough, flushed a lovely pink with a little pearl of pre come at the tip. It’s something to see, Caleb spread out and soft on the rumpled linen sheets. His head tipped back and warm sex flush blooming all the way from his ears to his pretty pale cock. Molly gives himself a quick squeeze, just to dull the edge of his need before he settles himself on his elbows. He scoots in close and, with a wicked grin, licks a board stroke up the underside of Caleb’s cock. Above him, Caleb shudders, fingers curling into the sheets. 

“ _ Molly _ -Shceisse !” he pants out, voice ragged. His legs go tense on either side of Mollymauk. Molly brushes the backs of his knuckles over them.

“Sorry. Should I have warned you?” he asks, not sorry at all.

Caleb draps an arm over his face. “ _ Nein- _ yes, I-  _ Mollymauk _ ,,,,”

Molly hums and presses lips to the creamy inside of Caleb's thigh. There are freckled there too, an adorable contrast against the paleness of his skin. He decided to suck a bruise there, just before the juncture of his hips, because he can and because he wants to. Caleb squirms a bit as he does it, as Molly’s teeth worry the skin till its red hot and angry. Molly pulls back, pressing a kiss to what promises to bloom into a wonderful patch of purple skin before refocusing his attention on the glaring issue jutting up from between Caleb’s legs. Pulling from the experience he has, he wraps a hand around the base, pulling back the foreskin, and takes the head into his mouth. 

Caleb’s hands tighten in the bedding. Molly laves the flat of his tongue over the head. The salty, earthy taste of pre come at the tip stirs up the smoldering coals sitting hot in his belly.

The desperate, lust drowned, more feral part of his brain begs him to take himself in hand and jerk himself to completion to the sight but- no. this is for Caleb first and foremost. He wants Caleb to feel good, he wants Caleb to enjoy this. Besides, there are - plans- for something bigger and better to come and he’d like to not blow his load before they get there. His own pleasure can wait. Molly can invoke some self control when it matters. So he curls his tongue around the head, flicking his piercing along the slit. Caleb’s hips twitch up into his mouth. Molly glances up gauge his reaction. 

His face is turned into the pillow, breath shallow and wet across the linens. His chest is heaving a bit, shoulders tense, stomach taut. His half lidded gaze is trained on Molly, heated and full of anticipation. Molly gives the head another lick, teasingly light and Caleb’s eyes flutter shut, a soft sigh of pleasure leaving him. It sets something in Molly’s chest aglow, something warm and wonderful that seeps into his very bones. Like waking up in the pale morning light with the heady smell of them on the sheets.  Running his tongue along the underside, Molly sinks, inch by inch, down Caleb’s flushed cock. One of his fangs knocks against the hard length. Caleb gasps, squirming under him and Molly pulls back.

“Mollymauk, your aaaa- your teeth,,, bitte.” he says, voice thin.

“Sorry, sorry,,” he mutters, pressing a lush kiss to the side of his cock in apology.

For all he runs his mouth, Molly’s really only done this maybe a handful of times, with varying degrees of success. It’s important that this is good for Caleb though. It’s important that Caleb enjoys himself. 

“No no,,” Caleb reaches down and clumsily pats Molly’s hand where it’s curled against his thigh. “It is alright, I just- it is aaaa- it startled me, that’s all. But aaah, perhaps- perhaps we do not - with the fangs aahh, this time, bitte.”

“Course.” Molly says. “Anything you want.”

“Danke” Caleb relaxes back against the pillows. “You can-uuuugh, you can- continue,,”

Molly runs his palms up and down Caleb’s legs. He physically can't not touch him right now, can’t bring himself to part them completely.

“Alright” he murmurs, leaning down to kiss across Caleb’s belly. He turns his head in to presses another kiss to the side of his cock. “Alright. Here, you can-” reaching over, he untangles one of Caleb’s hands from the sheets and guilds it up to rest against the curve of his shoulder. “ you can touch, if you'd like. I wasn’t lying about the horns, it’s umm- its nice so,,,”

Caleb’s thumb brushes the spot behind his ear. The drag of it over his skin makes Molly shiver. “Ja, alright.”

He flashes Caleb a crooked smile. “Okay.”

He sinks back down onto Caleb, mindful to keep his teeth tucked behind his lips this time as he takes him deep into his mouth. Caleb looses a breathy sigh, fingers tightening into the curls at the base of his neck as Molly starts to pick up a rhythm. Caleb isn’t loud, isn’t vocal in his pleasure. Not that Molly had really expected him to be, and he’s hardly disappointed by that fact. Caleb pants and squirms under him as he bobs his head up and down his length. There’s something thrilling about drawing those little, shaky sighs from him, those quite gasps that linger in the still morning air like dew on undisturbed grass. Molly hollows his cheeks and Caleb’s breath catches in his throat. He runs his tongue along the underside of his shaft and Caleb’s hips push up into the sensation. There’s something to swirling his tongue around the head of his cock and listening to the change in Caleb’s breathing, as it grows shallow and frantic. There’s something intimate about it that strikes deep in Molly’s chest. He pulls off for a moment, a soft, lewd  _ ‘pop’  _  following the action, and licks a broad stroke over the head, tasting the salt and earth and bitterness on his tongue, before wrapping his lips around Caleb’s dick once more. Caleb trembles and gasps. He plants his feet on the mattress, digging in his heels, and begins to bounces his hip to match Molly’s rhythm with aborted thrusts and stuttering breaths. 

There’s an intimacy to glancing up at Caleb through his lashes and seeing him wrapped up in his pleasure. With his chin tip up and the long line of his neck exposed. He's no longer pliant and loose under him, simply baskin in sensation. His body is taut like a bowstring, shoulders pushed back and face tight with need. His hips rise to meet Molly’s lips every time he pulls back, seeking out the warmth of his mouth, trying to push deeper. Each breath ends with a whine, thin and desperate as they leave him. Molly takes him as deep as he can, till the head of Caleb’s cock brushes the back of his throat and holds him there as long as he can, until tears start to sting in the corners of his eyes and he has to pull back. Caleb moans, the sound of it so wanton and careless that Molly shudders and groans around his cock. There’s a sharp intake of breath from above him. Caleb’s hip pitch up into his mouth. His finger grip Molly’s hair and hold him close. 

“Molly  _ Molly _ ,,” Caleb’s voice is thin and far away.

The taste of precome on his tongue grows sharper. Molly pulls back.

Immediately the tension drops from Caleb’s body and he goes limp against the sheets. He’s shaking and sweating, perspiration glistening on his temples and in the hollows of his throat. He whines, his breath ragged and wrecked and his cock still painfully hard, flushed a deep red at the tip. Molly feels for him, he really does. His own cock is heavy and aching between his legs but he doesn’t think either of them are ready for this to end quite yet. There’s no rush, they can take their time with this.

He presses kiss a to the inside of Caleb’s thigh and Caleb twitches at the contact, his body a livewire. “Need a moment?” 

“Ja.” Caleb’s voice is thick and ruined. He drapes an arm across his face again. “Ja, a- a moment, bitte. I just- I need-” he sound like he's just run a mile, his heaving breaths altogether too loud and too gentle in the still morning.

Crawling over top of Caleb, Molly eases his arm back and kisses him right on the scruffy cheek. “Take all the time you need.” and he draws Caleb into a sound kiss. 

Kissing is so easy.

It's gotten so easy to kiss Caleb like this. To simply drape himself along Caleb’s front like this and feel the rise and fall of his chest while he tries to catch his breath and feel the hammering of his heart in his rib cage and just kiss him. It’s easy to coax his mouth open and slip inside and it's easy to swallow down the small, helpless sounds Caleb makes as he taste himself on Molly’s tongue. And it easy to curl and card his fingers through his hair and enjoy this. It's easy to enjoy this. To enjoy kissing Caleb and holding Caleb and being with Caleb. He likes being with Caleb, he’s always liked being with Caleb. Even before all of this started Molly had resolved himself to be with Caleb in whatever way Caleb would have him because he likes Caleb and he likes being with him. In simplest terms, being with Caleb makes him happy.  Just joking and teasing him to work out those rare, brilliant smiles out, or chatting with him mindlessly on the road, or watching him come up with a plan, he loves it all. Caleb is his friend and he cares for him. He’s cared for him for a while, so much so that he was willing to wait for Caleb to make the decision on what form their budding relationship would take. He would have been happy with anything if it meant that Caleb was in his life in some way. He would have been happy with just the joking and the teasing and the banter and soft smiles. But this is much preferred. That he can hold Caleb in the way he’s wanted to hold him since he got back. Since Hupperduke and the harvest festival. Since he’d told him how he came out of the dirt and Caleb had called him by his name,  _ his  _ name, the name he chose to call himself, the name he’d chosen to make a good person out of. And he’d almost missed it.

He’d almost missed this

Thank the Weaver he hadn’t. Thank the Weaver and the Raven Queen and the Platinum Dragon and every other god and goddess he can think of and even the ones he can't that he didn’t miss this. That in his bless and broken third life, he has Caleb in the way he’d hoped that he could have him. That with all the pain and bitterness that this third time around presented him, with all its shadows and its confusion and its fear, thank the Weaver that he has this. That he has Caleb wrapped up in his arms and bundled against his chest with his lips on Molly’s lips and his hands clutching at his skin.

There are words to describe it. There are words to tell Caleb how much this-  _ this  _ means to him. There are ways to say that this means more to him then he ever could have imagined it would. That being with him, or around him, or just seeing his smile or hearing an edge of joy in his voice puts something brilliant and terrifying in Molly’s chest. That when he looks at him with his face soft and open it make Molly’s heart swell so much he’s afraid his chest won’t be able to contain it. That in all that time away, he kept thinking of him, and of the Nein, and of one day coming back to them, coming back to the only other home he’d known outside of the circus. And that’s all incredibly sappy and silly, but it’s also incredibly true. Molly had pitied the love struck fool who’d come to him, asking his cards for advice. He’d scoffed off the doe eyed romances Jester would recount to him from her novels, and made easy marks of mooning couples so wrapped up in each other they were dead to the rest of the world. He hadn’t understood it then. He barely understands it now; thinks himself a fool for the way his heart aches for Caleb, and yet it aches all the same. There are ways to say all of this, to tell Caleb that he makes him want to give so much. That he knows some wounds are jagged, ugly things, and that some run so deep not even joy can fill them all the way up, but he’s willing to try. To try and give Caleb as much joy as he can and fill up as many of those raw, bleeding places in him that he can. There are words to say this, ways to tell him. But Molly never learned to use his words very well. So all he can offer is all that he knows, and what he knows is the physical. 

So he tries to say it with his kisses. He tries to say it in the way his chest rests on Caleb’s chest and his hands come up to stroke his cheeks. He tries to say it with the rise and fall of his chest as he breaths, and with the union of their heartbeats as they try to match behind their ribs. Caleb is, for the most part, a man of words, so so many words. Words that Molly will never have, and that’s okay. But for all his words, Caleb is most honest in his actions. So Molly hopes, god above and below he hopes, he hopes that Caleb can glean the meaning from the way he twists their fingers together because it’s all that Molly has. 

“Mollymauk?” Caleb presses the name against the corner of his mouth and Molly shudders. He has to take a minute to reel in his wandering mind again before it spills out of him and makes a terrible mess of the bedsheets.

He pecks Caleb quickly to buy himself a moment, then cards fingers through his thick ginger hair. “Ready to keep going?” he asks, scraping his nails along Caleb’s scalp.

Caleb shudders against him. “Ja ja-” Molly more feels the words then hears them as Caleb presses their mouths together before he can fully get them out. Molly soaks it all in. The smell of sweat and road dirt and musty old books. The rough pull of calloused fingertips against the bare skin of his back. The warmth of arms around his waist, holding him close, holding him still. He soaks it all in, because all of it is Caleb and he’s wanted this for so so long, he’s not going to let a moment of it slip through his fingers. 

They part for a breath and Caleb’s nose presses against his jaw, his hot breath fanning across Molly’s pulsepoint. “I would- I think that I would like you on your back, for this next bit.” his voice is a level of deep and husky that Molly’s never heard before and honestly, thank the high heavens for that because how could he be expected to think about  _ anything  _ when Caleb sounds like  _ that _ . With his accent all but dripping off his tongue it's so thick, warm and enticing like honey. He can’t help but kiss him again just to see what that might taste like.

“That can certainly be arranged.”

With his arms locked around the back of Caleb’s neck Molly rolls onto his back, slowly drawing Caleb along with him. His eyes are so dark and so blue and so so heavy with intention that it makes Molly shiver. Hovering above him with his hands planted to either side of his head Caleb looks larger than life. His gaze is calm and level, and  focused, like he’s planning out all the ways he’s going to take Molly apart, slowly and methodically. Molly has to bite down on his lower lip to keep from making any truly embarrassing sounds, because  _ yes _ . Yes to Caleb’s sharp gaze dragging along his body like a caress and yes to his fingers dancing along the sharp peaks of his hips and yes to the way the deep blush on his cheeks makes his sapphire eyes practically glow. Yes to the faint hum of his magic in the air that Molly’s sure he’d feel more keenly if he weren’t so focused other things. Like the sound of their mingled breathing and smell of Caleb, thick in the air between them. Sweat and books and woodsmoke and cinnamon. Caleb descends on him, kissing and sucking and biting along his neck. 

He feels exactly how he looks. A little rough, a little sharp at the edges, but ultimately gentle. Even as he scrapes his teeth down the exposed column of Molly’s neck, his hand are soft along his chest and his waist, coxing low needy moans from him as he works his way down. Each nip to his skin has Molly arching slightly, every kiss causing him to gasp. He wraps an arm loosely around the small of Caleb’s back and lets the other man ravish him. It's just as wonderful as he suspected it might be. 

Caleb kisses and licks along his collar bone. “You know, I do not think I say this as often as I should but, you are very handsome, Mollymauk.” he presses a hot, open mouthed kiss to the center of his chest, right over the twisted knot of scar tissue there, right over his heart.

Molly huffs out a laugh. “I’m already naked, there’s no need to flatter me. Though it is very much appreciated.” he muses, running his free hand through Caleb’s hair while the other man makes work of sucking a mark into his chest.

He hums. “You are very handsome, Molly. Painfully so.” the sound of his voice rumbling deep in his chest is enough to make Molly shudder. Lower he goes, exploring every inch of Molly skin with his lips and his tongue, lavishing Molly with attention until he’s squirming and panting. Gods above, this man. With his head listed back against the pillows, Molly marvels at how Caleb is able to do this to him, to reducing him to a mess of ruined, shaking flesh and need. He can't remember the last time he was this hard. Wildly thinks, in his lust addled state, that he's never been this hard. And all from Caleb and his clever mouth and his brilliant fingers. Fingers that trace patterns over his skin with the same reverence that they trace arcane runes. Fingers that make shapes out of the raised scars across his torso and press against his tattoos deep then even the needle had. “Stunning,,” Caleb kisses lower and lower, following the strong line of his stomach down past his ribs.“Wunderbar, and so beautiful. Molly, Mollymauk bitte-” his lips drag down the expanse of his toned stomach, nipping at the fluttering muscles there before they dip down past Molly’s navel and he presses a searing kiss just below the silver charm that dangles there. “Ich möchte dich verzehren, Molly,,,”  he takes the charm carefully between his teeth and gives it a gentle tug.

Molly groans, back arching up  _ up  _ into Caleb’s touch. “Fuckin hell Caleb.” his nails bite down into the tops of his shoulders, pushing him lower. 

Caleb goes willingly, kisses every bit of skin he can reach as he goes before he sits back on his knees between Molly’s spread legs. Caleb lifts one up at the knee and kisses the inside of his thigh as well. The teasing is torture, but the very best kind. There’s nowhere Molly would rather be than in this quite, sun-stained moment, with Caleb touching and caressing every inch of him like he’s something worth the time. Like he's something worth remembering. The same swooping feeling of too much that Molly had felt all those nights ago in the tent catches up with him. Being at the center of Caleb’s focus, and knowing that he’s putting every second of this to his perfect memory is- a lot. The feeling passes quickly, the scrap of Caleb’s beard along the sensitive skin of his inner thigh sending him careening back into the moment.

Like he had with his chest, Caleb runs his mouth along every inch of Molly’s thigh. “All of you is beautiful, Molly, every inch of you. You are brilliant, mein liebling, radiant.” he presses a kiss to the inside of his knee.

Molly laughs again, more strained this time. “Pass me that, will you?” he gestures vaguely towards the vile oil caught up in the bedding. 

Caleb nods, lowering Molly’s leg back to the bed so he can hand it to him. With a grunt, Molly heaves himself up into a seated position, legs thrown rather obscenely over Caleb’s as he uncorked the bottle.

“Here.” he gestures for Caleb to give him his hand, and Caleb does so.

Pouring some oil into his hand, he slicks up two of Caleb’s fingers, noting but not acknowledging how hotly his gaze burns on him while he does it. Once he’s good a ready, Molly leans up to press their mouths together and Caleb kisses him back down into the mattress.

“Show me what you need” Caleb says against his mouth. 

Molly grins “That’s easy enough” There’s no teasing this time. Caleb peppers a few chaste kisses down Molly’s chest and Molly spread his legs wide, insides writhing with anticipation. With fingers wrapped around Caleb’s wrist, he guides his hand down between his legs.

The first press of Caleb’s blunt fingers against his opening has him gasping. He clutches at Caleb’s arm like a lifeline as he ever so slowly starts to breech him. The intense wave of pleasure that rolls over him leaves him a sweating, shaking mess. It’s slow work to get the first one seated all the way inside of him. Even with Molly’s hand on his, Caleb seems hesitant to move too quickly or push too far. He starts to move, shallowly thrusting in and out. Molly sees stars. He moans and cant his hips up, trying to take him deeper. He knows he must look ruined. Writhing and moaning against the pillows as Caleb slowly works him up to two fingers, plunging them deep and opening him up.

“That’s brilliant.” he says with a sigh, fighting to keep his eyes open and on Caleb. “You’re brilliant Caleb, absolutely brilliant.”

“Molly,,,” His gaze is locked on the place were his fingers disappear into Molly, watching intently as he works them in and out, his cock flushed red and curving up towards his stomach. Just the sight of him makes Molly throw his head back with a groan.

“Caleb,,, Caleb,,,” he pants, burning under his gaze.

There’s something to his touch that’s different. It's nothing like the touch of other bedfellows as they’d opened him up. There's something, moving and desperate in Caleb’s touch, something far more intimate then Molly’s ever knows. He doesn’t have a name for it, and maybe that’s because Caleb is working two fingers in and out of him with painstakingly methodically stokes, but he’s not entirely convinced that’s the case. There’s something to Caleb’s touch, something more. It’s an intimacy that goes beyond the physical. More then sex for just the sake of pleasure. It's an intimacy that’s trying to say so much with just a touch. One that speaks of longing and want and a desperate need for closeness. Maybe he’s just projecting the swirling storm of emotions in his chest onto Caleb’s questing fingers.  Molly trembles and gasps, and he’s sure it’s not just from the physical sensation.

He feels so utter flayed under Caleb’s blue eyes, blue like the sky is on a clear summer day. All of him is out here on display for Caleb to pick apart, to observe and try to understand. Sex is fun and good and like in all thing he does, Molly tends to put on a show, never one to leave himself totally vulnerable, just in case.  But he trust Caleb, trusts him enough not to hid behind coy grins and joking remarks and too let himself be vulnerable. He lets himself be quite and open and lets Caleb see him, and that leaves Molly feeling so raw and exposed.

And it’s scary.

For someone who uses his looks as a shield, as a mask to keep people from looking deeper, only to find nothing, the thought of Caleb picking him apart with his gaze is scary. The thought of Caleb looking past the colors and the scars and really seeing him- it's terrifying. Its too much. That Caleb might see past the facade and see  _ him _ , and all the things he hides away. All the things he pushes down deep and tries to forget. The fact that Caleb has  _ already  _ seen a glimpse of those hidden, bleeding, miserable pieces of him and doesn’t treat him any differently. That Caleb has seen them and respects his desire to lock them away. Caleb, who cares for him despite having seen the cracks in his carefully constructed exterior. Who wants him, who wants  _ this _ . Its too much. It’s everything. It makes Molly ache deep in his chest, and not because he’s hollowed out and empty, but because he’s so incredibly full that it hurts. Every touch, every smile, every kiss, every single time his name falls from Caleb’s lips like a declaration fills him up more and more until he’s overflowing with. Until the warm and shining and terrifying feeling is spilling from between his ribs. Until it sinks into his bones. Until he’s drowning in it. It's overwhelming, like standing on the edge of a cliff, staring up into the night sky. It's akin to the feeling vertigo you get when you gaze up into the endlessness of the stars and worry that you’ll fall into them and be swallowed whole.

It makes his head spin. There’s no words for it, no way he can think to express it, except to shudder and moan as Caleb spears him on his fingers. He’s never felt anything like this before. Sex has never felt anything like this before, but then again, he’s never had sex with someone he's care about as deeply as he cares about Caleb.

_ Is it always like this? _

“Molly?”

Molly gasps wetly, fingers tightening in the bed sheets. He’s not sure when he closed his eyes but when he opens them he sees Caleb, looking at him with little worried crease between his brow. He’s removed his fingers from him. Instead his thumbs rub slowly, calming circles into the tops of his thighs.

“Wha-?”  

There’s something hot and wet on his face that isn’t sweat and when Molly reaches up to wipe it away he’s startled to find tear tracks down his cheeks. 

“That’s,,, new.” he says absently and then he laughs, high and somewhat manic.

“Molly, mein schatz, what’s wrong?’ 

Molly shakes his head, scrubbing the tears away with the heel of his palm. “Nothing’”he says, and he means it. Nothing is wrong and everything is wonderful if not a little bizarre. “ Nothing at all.” he glances back over at Caleb and gods he’s so far away. He’s so far away that it hurts. Like Molly can feel every inch of the distance stretched out between them, even with Caleb’s hands warm on his thighs. It’s not enough. He grins and drops his head back to the pillows, making beckoning motions at Caleb. “Come up here, come on. Let me kiss you.”

He so desperately wants to be held right now, to feel Caleb close and hear his heartbeat in his chest. Every moment he doesn't have Caleb wrapped up in his arms is agony. Before this, Molly would have never considered himself a bleeding heart and yet here he is, pinning for a man who’s only inches away.

Caleb doesn't seems quite convinced but he crawls up over him regardless, settling in against Molly's front. As soon as he’s close enough Molly draws him in for a kiss, one that’s slow and moving and he grins the whole way through it.

When they break apart, Caleb’s hands come up to cradle his face, thumbs brushing over his cheeks. “Everything is alright?” he asks and his voice is laced with worry.

“Yes.” Molly says, breathlessly. “It’s just- its a lot.” he admits. “Does it always feel like this?”

Caleb whole face goes soft, a pitying little smile touching the corner of his mouth. “In my experience, ja.”

He hums thoughtfully, then shrugs. “Oh well, I’m sure I’ll manage.” he pecks Caleb quickly on the lips and marvels at the way his stomach flips at the feeling of those chapped and bitten lips on his own as if it were the first time. “Everything’s nearly perfect, I promise.” he assures him when they part. “I just- I needed a moment is all. I’m alright to keep going if you are I just- yeah. Just- just give me a second to catch my breath.”

Caleb nods squeezing Molly’s face between his hands. “Of course, of course liebling.”

He starts to drop kisses all across his face, peppering them over his cheeks and pressing them into the corner of his mouth and along his jaw until Molly starts to feel overwhelmed again.

He scoffs. “alright  alright, yes, thank you, I’m fine Caleb, enough of that really, I'm fine.” he says before ducking down out of the way and capturing the wizard’s mouth in a searing kiss.

When they finally part Caleb is staring at him cross-eyed and ridiculous. “Better?”

Molly chuckles, bringing a hand up to scrap talons through his hair and down the back of his neck. Caleb shivers. “Oh I’m just fantastic dear, don’t worry about me.”

Caleb hums, moving to press his lips against Molly’s neck and Molly gasps and thrusts up in against him as he started sucking a mark just below his jaw. The motion cause their erections to brush together and above him Caleb sucks in a breath. Molly groans, hips twitching up of their own accord, desperately seeking out that friction. 

“Can we-” Molly starts, and gods he's going to sound like a fool for asking this but- “Can-? Is it alright if we do it- I think I’d like to be able to see you if- if that’s alright.” he wants to be able to see Caleb and wrap his arms around his shoulders and hold him close. He wants Caleb to hold him with arms around his waist and hold all the wonderful, scary feelings inside of him and hold him together.

Caleb’s tongue darts out to wet his lips. “I think that I would like that as well.” and he stretches up to kiss Molly so soundly on the mouth that his whole body trembles. He twists his arms tight around the back of Caleb’s neck, drawing him as close as he can get him and somehow it's still not enough. 

Everything is too much right now. His head is a swirling mess of feelings and sensations. His heart aches in his chest and his breath catches in his throat and his cock throbs between his legs, desperate for any kind of relief. He needs a good fuck to clear his head. He needs Caleb to fuck him into the mattress right now. 

Almost like he can read his mind, Caleb draws back. Though he’s loath to let him go far, Molly lets his hands fall to the bed so that Caleb can better position himself between his legs. He watches as Caleb slicks himself up with one hand. Watches as he hold himself at the base and lines himself up with Molly’s entrance and slowly pushes inside.

It’s Molly's favorite type of burning, being spread and opened on Caleb’s hard length like this. He throws his head back as the first sparks of pleasure start shooting up his spine.   
“ _ Caleb _ ,,” his voice sounds far away. Caleb pushes in another inch and he groans, nails biting into his forearms as he eventually bottoms out.

"Scheisse” Caleb breaths. Sweaty copper bangs fall across his face, head bent down between his shoulders as his fingers tangle into the bedding and he just breaths. In through his nose, out though his mouth. He glances up at Molly from behind his hair. “Gut?”

Molly nods, already starting to relax around him. “Yeah” the fullness is nice, but closeness is better. His eyes flutter shut even as he speaks. “Get up here, will you?”

Caleb doesn't hesitate. The shift of his body as he moves to drape himself along Molly’s front causes him to slip out a little. Molly hisses under his breath at the drag of Caleb’s cock inside of him. They meet in a kiss that’s all wet lips and hot breath and roving tongues. Molly scratches his nails lightly down Caleb’s shoulders, all the way down to his lower back, digging them in just above the curve of his ass. Caleb groans deep in the back of his throat, hips stuttering up into Molly in an aborted little thrust. It sends a bolt of liquid heat right though Molly’s already straining dick.

Molly grins into the corner of his mouth. “I trust you don’t need me to tell you what to do here?”

Caleb gives him a withering look before sealing them in another brightly burning kiss. And then he starts to move. The angle’s no good. Stretched out over Molly like this, all he can really do is thrust in shallowly but gods its enough to get them both panting.

He rocks into him, once-  _ twice _ . Molly wriggles his hips, trying to find a better angle, trying to take him further and find that spot that sets him ablaze. He presses his hands to Caleb’s ass, coaxing him to go deeper, harder. 

“Damnit Caleb come on, move. Come on.”

Caleb’s breath grows frantic and shallow against his neck. He kisses just below Molly’s jaw as he draws out, only to thrust back in with one long, fluid motion and a shuddering gasp. Molly arches up off the bed with guttural moan. 

“Fuck. Yeah,  _ yeah  _ that’s it, just like that.” he pants, canting his him up to met Caleb’s with every thrust, head tipped back against the pillows. Stretched out perfectly under his wizard while he drives into him.

“ _ Hhha _ , Molly- Mollymauk,,” Caleb sounds ruined. The sound his voice, heavy with his accent and tight with need, its burns white hot in Molly’s core. The rest of the world melts away until there’s nothing left but Caleb’s voice and his lips on Molly’s neck and his sweat slick back and the drag of his cock as it moves inside him. It’s all Molly can do to wrap his legs around Caleb's waist and keen as the angle becomes just right. The head of Caleb’s cock brushing that spot that makes him whole body tremble.

One of his hands flies up to grip the pillows, back arching spectacularly with every thrust now. “That's it, yeah. Come on Caleb come on come on come on.”

With a strangled moan, Caleb shifts up and out of Molly grasp, and he feels the loss immediately. He doesn't dwell on it long. How can he? When Caleb plants a hand on either side of his head and starts to move with true earnest, pressing him down into the blankets. With a muted cry, Molly tightens his hold around his waist, egged Caleb on with his heels against his back. His tail thrashes against the bed, writhing with his pleasure. Molly throws his head back, breath coming in short, shallow bursts now.

He doesn’t even register the pounding at the door until the fourth knock. Immediately Caleb stops, still sheathed deep inside of him. Molly groans, quietly as he can manage and hopes the inn’s oak doors are somewhat sound proof.   
He turns his face into the pillows. “Don’t stop Caleb.” he knows he sound silly begging like this but so close to that crest of his pleasure he frankly doesn't give a shit. To hell with whoever’s at the door and what they want. It’s locked anyways and the only thing that matters is that Caleb keeps moving in him and doesn’t  _ stop _ .    
A groan pushes out from somewhere deep in Caleb’s chest. He rocks forward ever so slightly and gasps.

“Caleb?  Are you- are you in there?” 

Even muffled by the door Molly still recognizes Yasha’s level tone. She could not have picked a worse time to show up, honestly.

“ Ja-” Molly rolls his hips up into Caleb’s, and Caleb draws in a low, steadying breath. His arms tremble as they support him where he hovers over Molly. “Ja-! I uueeehg I- did you, did you need something,,,,?”

“I was wondering if you knew where Molly is?” Yasha asks through the door.

Caleb glance down at him with wide eyes. 

Molly shakes his head vehemently.  _ ‘No _ .’ he mouths.

“No-” Caleb replies, his voice shaking. “I have not seen him today.”

“Alright then-” there’s the sound of shuffling feet outside. Molly lets some of the tension fall from his chest. He arches his hips and presses in with his heels, trying to get Caleb to start moving again. Caleb’s hips give a little aborted thrust, his eyes fluttering shut. He leans forward to rest his weight on his hands again and starts to pull out-

“Are you sure you haven’t seen him?” it’s Jester’s voice this time. Her usually sweet accent now a grating shriek on Molly’s fraying, sparking nerves. “Cause like we can’t find him anywhere and nobody has seen him since last night. Even Caddy doesn’t know where he is.”

“I do- do not know what to tell you,,” his voice is tight, his body taught, like it’s taking all his restraint to not just fuck Molly into the mattress. He presses back in minutely and Molly’s shudders. Slowly he resumes his pace, rocking Molly down into the bedding.

A beat of silence from outside. Then. “Caaay-leb.” Jester croon. “Caleb, are you having sex in there? Can you not come to the door because you’re having sex right now Caleb?”

“Oh for god's sake.” Molly mutters before raising his voice to a bellow for the next bit. “Piss off, will you!  _ FUck _ !” it's at the moment that Caleb hits that sensitive spot inside of him. His whole body arches up off the bed. 

Outside the door, Jester shrieks. “Oh my  _ god _ ! Oh my god, you guys!” there’s some scuffing, the shuffling of feet and then Jester’s voice grows muffled, like someone's put a hand over her mouth. 

“Did you-? Did you two,,,,need anything?” it’s Yasha again, sounding only a little timid. “Like- I could get you some water or,,,?”

“We’re good, dear, thank you!” Molly shouts back.   
“Okay then,,” shes says.

“Have fun you guuuuuuuys.” Jesters coos. “And be safe, you wouldn’t want to catch anything nasty!”

“Go!” Molly shouts back. “Scram, shoo!”

Jester’s cackle quickly fades as Yasha no doubt drags her back from the door and finally,  _ finally   _ they're  alone again and Molly can focus on the drag of Caleb’s heavy cock inside of him.

He tangles his other hand in the pillows around his head and rocks up in time with Caleb’s downward thrusts, desperate to get there, desperate to get Caleb there too. He arches his hips high off the mattress, legs tensing around Caleb’s waist. Slowly, Caleb lifts up onto his knees, one hand planted on the bed, one hand gripping at the headboard. Angled upwards at the chest Molly cries out. The new position allows Caleb to hit  _ that  _ spot over and over again with every thrust. He wills his eyes open so he can catch a glimpse of his wizard. Sweat drips from his temples, face red and drawn tight in concentration or need or some combination of the two. His shoulders are tense and his chest is heaving as he rocks firmly into Molly, chasing his release. 

“Gods, Caleb, tha- don’t stop doing that, fuck Caleb-  _ Caleb _ .” Molly keens.

He can pinpoint the exact moment Caleb starts to lose his consideration. Their rhythm slips, Caleb’s hips start pounding into him. Molly’s knows he won't last. His legs tremble where they’re hooked around Caleb’s waist and his stomach is taught with the need to come, hovering there just out of reach. With a growl, he wraps his hand around his bouncing cock and tries to stroke in time with Caleb’s thrusts, but there's no rhythm to keep pace with. 

“Yeah, yeah- come on Caleb come on,,” is his breathless mantra, the dam just near ready to break. “Caleb- Caleb,   _ yeah _ , come in me, come in me Caleb come on.”

There’s a sharp intake of breath above him and Caleb goes rigid, buried deep in Molly’s ass as he finally,  _ finally  _ comes. Molly follows shortly after with a shout, hand squeezing around his dick, drawing rope after rope of come out of himself.

There’s tense moment right after where neither of them move, still lost in their orgasms, before Caleb eventually eases Molly back down to the bed. His softening cock slips out of him. Molly groans and shudders at the feeling of come leaking out of him, utterly spent. It’s nearly perfect.

Caleb collapsed next to him, breathing heavily. Molly gives them both a moment to gather themselves before he taps Caleb on the shoulder with the back of his hand. Caleb, face beet red and pressed in the mattress, blinks over at him.

A wide, curling grin splits Molly’s face. “So,,, was it as good for you as it was for me?”

Caleb groans, reaching over to shove his shoulder clumsily. Molly throws his head back with a laugh.

Slowly Caleb’s starts to extract himself. Molly’s not sure how he has the energy to move when his limbs feel like lead, but he sighs as Caleb leans over, plants a kiss to his cheek, then rolls out of bed. He watches him walk over to the wash basin in the corner of the room, body stretched out and  pleasantly numb, enjoying the view.

“Suppose the cats out of the bag now.” he says absently.

Caleb hums, coming back to the bed with a damp rag, which Molly pucks out of his hands and proceed to clean himself up with.    
Caleb crawls back into bed with him. “Probably ja. Jester is no doubt telling the entire tavern about it right now.”

“Oh well-” he tosses the rag into a corner. “Saves us the trouble of having to do it ourselves.”

Caleb lifts a questioning brow. “Were you planning on telling the entire tavern?”

Molly shrugs. “I was considering it, actually. Only seems fair to credit the person who gave me the best lay of my life.” Caleb’s ears go red, but he says nothing. With some effort, Molly rolls over into him, draping an arm over his chest. “They’ll be fine without us for a few more minutes, I think.” he nudges a horn against Caleb’s shoulder and twists his tail around his calf.

Caleb’s arm settles along the tops of his shoulders, fingers scratching lightly at the base of his skull, drawing a purr from him. Molly nestles in deeper, brushing fingers over Caleb’s chest.

This part is new. The lingering after the fact. Usually he’ll take a minute to catch his breath, thank his companion profusely for the good time, then don his clothes (or not) and take his leave. So he’s not so used to cuddling up like this, or the calm in the room that still smells of the two of them. It nice though, it’s very nice. Caleb’s fingers tugging gently, absently at the shorter curls at the base of his neck feels wonderful. He feels happy, and safe. Certainly, terrifyingly, he could get used to this. And that pulls the slight smile off his face as quickly as it had appeared. He run his hand over Caleb’s chest again, drawing in a slow, steadying breath.

“You know,,” he starts slowly, because this is important and he needs to find the right words to say it. “,,,, I think that I could fall in love with you,,,” 

As if he isn’t already well on his way. 

Caleb tenses against him, and Molly rushes to continue. “Not- not right now, not today but- but one day. I could see myself falling in love with you and I just- It’s only fair, that I let you know now so if we wanted to continue,,, this” he runs his fingers carefully through Caleb’s chest hair. “That you know what to expect. In case that’s not something you want. I want it.” he quickly adds. “I- that’s what I want. But I don’t want either of us to waste our time here so, uhh- yeah, that’s - that’s- yeah” he pauses a moment. “-Cards on the table,,”

Caleb doesn’t say anything for a long moment and a part of Molly wishes he’d just kept his mouth shut and not ruined this. But he knows that it needed saying. That if he doesn’t put it all out in the open right now, it could make a big mess of things down the line. And he doesn’t want for either of them to waste their time and he doesn’t want to force something on Caleb that he’s not ready for. Doesn’t want to blindside Caleb months from now with his feelings for him. So he has to know, if this- is going anywhere. If it ever could. Molly stares at the opposite wall with his head on Caleb’s chest, waiting for an answer.

“I do not think that I can love you- the way that you will love me.” he says slowly. Molly sucks in a breath and closes his eyes “I am- I am not a good person Mollymauk, and I know you will disagree with me but please let me finish. I am not a good person, I am a broken person. I am trying so hard to put myself back together, but it- it is difficult and I-” a breath. He starts again. “I am learning to be better, I am learning to care about people again. It has not been easy, but I- I am trying, to be a better person. As I am right now, I do not think I am capable of loving you, like you will love me, or loving you like you deserve. I can’t- I can not say that years from now things will not be different. But as I am now, you have to understand, I am only just learning to love again, to love the others and- and you. If we are being totally honest here, I cannot say what type of person I will be years from now, Molly, if I will ever be a person who can love you as wholly and selflessly as I ought to but- but I want to. And if you are willing to accept that, then I can promise you that I will give you everything that I can, everyday you are willing to give me,,,,”

It’s not a perfect answer. It's so far from the perfect storybook answers that wrap up a fairytale in a neat little bow. But anyone with a perfect answer in this life is just trying to sell you something.

Molly turns his head just so, just enough to place a kiss to Caleb’s chest. “Okay,,, Okay. We’ll- we’ll figure it out together.”

“Ja- together.” Caleb says, and there’s no hesitation in his voice, only resolution.

“Together” Molly echos, kissing his chest once more. “Well, now that we’ve got that settled, I imagine the others won’t be expecting us down for a while, after hearing whatever ridiculous tale Jester is weaving them. Should we give them a reason to blush?”

Caleb chuckles and Molly can feel like vibrations under his hand, and it feel like something that could be home.

“You know what? Why the hell not. Who knows when we will get another moment to ourselves.”

Molly grins, rolling over so he can straddle Caleb’s waist. “Here, here” he says, and kisses him soundly.

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Ich möchte dich verzehren- verzehren can mean "to eat" or "to consume" but it can also mean you desire someone so much you just wanna eat them up so its something along the lines of "I want to devour you" or something like that  
> I hope you all enjoyed this fic it was super fun to write and I have my next big one already planned out and ready to go!


End file.
